Mazinger Z

Koji can
swim in the sky
He can fly beneath the sea
In his robot-man

Mazinger Z!

—The theme song

Considered to be THE granddaddy of the Super Robot Genre, Mazinger Z is the first entry of the Mazinger trilogy. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha Weekly Shonen Jump from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later continued in Kodansha TV Magazine from October 1973 to September 1974. In December 1972, the anime version premiered on Fuji Television. The TV series ended September 1, 1974. A second manga series was released alongside the TV show, this one drawn by Gosaku Ota, which started and ended almost at the same time of the TV show.

Mazinger Z tells the story of young Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero Kouji Kabuto, grandson of a genius professor named Juuzou Kabuto. The Professor secretly built a Humongous Mecha named Mazinger Z, to battle the forces of evil—led by his rival gone mad, Dr. Hell. Unfortunately, Juuzou gets assassinated quickly, but he still manages to inform Kouji about his creation. The Professor tells him to take over, but warns him that he could become "a God or a Devil" with its power.

Along with his brother Shiro, Kouji takes Mazinger, reaches the Photoatomic Research Institute directed by Juuzou's former right hand man Dr. Gennosuke Yumi, who practically adopts the boy. Eventually he's pitted in a continuous battle against Dr. Hell, presented in a good ol' Monster of the Week fashion.

Mazinger Z was followed by Great Mazinger and UFO Robo Grendizer. However, being a forty-years-old Long Runner, it has got many sequels, spin-offs and remakes throughout four decades:

List of Mazinger-related series:

• Great Mazinger: The first sequel, narrating the rise of the Mykene Empire after the Final Battle against Dr. Hell, and the battles between them and Tetsuya Tusurgi, Great Mazinger's pilot. the anime was produced by Toei and Dynamic Planning, and it was broadcast for first time by Fuji TV in 1974. Two manga versions were produced in 1975. One of them was written by Go Nagai and it is two-volumes-long, and the second was written by Gosaku Ota, and it is also four-volumes-long (and it features a pretty different ending).
• UFO Robo Grendizer: The last series of the original trilogy, it narrates how Kouji Kabuto found Duke Fleed and Grendizer, and how they fought together against the Alien Invasion from the planet Vega. The anime was produced by Toei and Dynamic Planning, and it premiered in Fuji TV in 1975. Grendizer had THREE manga versions in 1976: Go Nagai version is two-volumes-long; Gosaku Ota version is three-volumes-long; and Hidearu Imamichi version is comprised of one single volume.
• God Mazinger: It has nothing to do with the original series, but originally it was meant to be its sequel. However the idea was discarded, and the other two series were made instead. Hibino Yamato, a Japanese Ordinary High School Student has frequent hallucinations about a weird world: the Kingdom of Mu, a world resembles ancient Greek. Suddenly he is forcefully thrown into that world through a dimensional portal to relive God Mazinger, a giant stone statue where inhabits a Physical God only can be awoken by the chosen one. Hibino is led to its presence to wake up the giant, fuse with it spiritually and fight together a threat is invading the kingdom. It was produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and Dynamic Planning, and aired by Nippon TV in 1984. A manga based on it was produced in 1984: ten volumes were published by Kadokawa Shoten and four volumes by Shogakukan.
• New Mazinger: It was going to be a Mazinger series specifically made for the American market, but only one single volume was published in 1988 by First Publishing. The setting is an post-apocalyptic Earth after one hundred fifty years of constant war. Every armies use gigantic Power Armors to battle. One of them -called Mazinger- is piloted by Mayor Kabuto. In one battle he is transported to a parallel world inhabited by giants.
• Mazin Saga: In this series Mazinger is not a Humongous Mecha but a mystic armor that turns the wearer into a giant. Three volumes were published in 1990, and other six in 1997.
• CB Chara Go Nagai World: A Crossover between Mazinger Z, Devilman and Violence Jack, featuring a ton of ShoutOuts to many Go Nagai series. The Devilman main characters find themselves suddenly chibi-fied and trapped into a strange world, and they set in a quest for ascertain what is happening and getting their real bodies back. It was made in 1991, and a manga version was published in 1992.
• Z Mazinger: In this version, Earth was invaded for a race of Sufficiently Advanced Aliens were mistaken by gods. However, the most powerful alien warrior -named Zeus- rebelled against them and defeated them. Several centuries later they return and attack Japan, but Kouji Kabuto finds the robot of Zeus, and he accepts fighting on Zeus stead, renaming his robot to Z-Mazinger. Go Nagai wrote it in 1998, and it lasted five volumes.
• Mazinkaiser: Following the success of Super Robot Wars, and the Mazinger Z upgrade Mazinkaiser created for the series, this anime received a retelling in 2001 as an OVA series, Mazinkaiser, which introduces said mecha into the Mazinger canon. The OVA also featured the characters from the second of the trilogy, Great Mazinger. Go Nagai published an alternate one-shot in 2001, but in 2003, was published one volume adapted the OVA history, written by Go Nagai and drawn by Naoto Tsushima.
• Dynamic Heroes: A Crossover featuring the animated versions of Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, UFO Robo Grendizer, Getter Robo, Cutey Honey and Devilman. It was published in 2004. Originally it was an e-manga but later it was published. It is four-volumes-long.
• Mazinger Angels: An alternate story and Charlie's Angels spoof: Sayaka, Jun, Hikaru and Maria form the Mazinger Angels team, a group uses giant robots to investigate odd crimes and happenings. Written by Go Nagai and drawn by Akihiko Niina, it was published in 2004 and it lasted four volumes. A two-volumes-long sequel -Mazinger Angels Z- was published in 2008.
• Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen: A new series, Shin Mazinger Impact! Z Chapter, began airing in April 2009. It is sort of a reboot. Go Nagai written an one-shot story set in that continuity.
• Shin Mazinger Zero: Shin Mazinger Zero is a manga that was released in 2009 in the magazine Champion Red, created by Go Nagai and Yoshiaki Tabata. It has no connection with Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen, but it is connected with the original anime. Three volumes have been published so far.
• Mazinger Otome: A digital comic published in 2009, by Go Nagai and Mikio Tachibana. In this alternate story, Go Nagai classic Super Robots (Mazinger-Z, Great Mazinger, Grendizer, Koutetsu Jeeg) are Robot Girls.
• Mazinkaiser SKL: Made in 2011, it has nothing to do with the formers series. A digital manga based on this story was made, by Go Nagai and Kazumi Hoshi.

Made by Go Nagai, who would later inspire the creation of (but not, as common misconceptions would have you believe, actually create) ANOTHER granddaddy of Super Robot anime: Getter Robo.

In the US, Mazinger Z was aired under the title Tranzor Z as a response to the popularity of Voltron. In this dub, Koji became "Tommy" and Sayaka was "Jessica." It was later given a shorter, but more faithful dub run commissioned by Toei. The Toei dub was hugely popular in the Philippines before Ferdinand Marcos ordered it off the air, and some episodes were released on VHS in the U.K.; before Tranzor Z, snippets of this dub had been aired in the U.S. on a Christian Broadcasting Network public-affairs program about Japan.

Other than in all Super Robot Wars games, Mazinger Z also appears in several videogames: Mazinger Z, a Beat'-Em-Up for Super Nintendo Entertainment System; Mazinger Z, an arcade Shoot'-Em-Up featuring all robots in the trilogy; Mazin Saga Mutant Fighter, a Beat'-Em-Up for Genesis based on the Mazin Saga manga; and CB Chara Wars, an action game based on the CB Chara Go Nagai World OVA.

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Tropes used in Mazinger Z include:

A-H

• Abusive Parents <- -> Parents as People: Prof. Yumi suffers from this. Though he does care for her, throughout the series he rather neglected Sayaka. It was obvious his family was less important to him than his career, and often he was absent when her daughter needed him. Likewise, his niece Yuri is a conceited, cranky, brat, and he explains that is cause her parents never have time for her. YMMV if this is caused by the huge number of problems that is caused by Doctor Hell, forcing him to work harder -- and likely much harder than he may have wanted.
  • A bigger example is Kenzo Kabuto. He almost died cause a laboratory experiment gone wrong, but his father saved his life. However both of them thought it would be better not telling Kouji and Shiro -- Kenzo's sons -- he had survived. For YEARS Kouji and Shiro grew up mostly alone, thinking their father died alongside their mother while he was building a Humongous Mecha to defend humankind. When Kenzo revealed the truth to them, Kouji was too glad to hold a grudge, but Shiro took a long while until before he could forgive him. Also, Kenzo had no troubles slapping his adoptive son when he thought Tetsuya was crossing the line. All of it finally bit everyone's butts at the end of the series.
  • Justified, considering what happened in the series, its rather understandable why he didn't reveal himself to be alive, since he took care of Tetsuya and Jun. How he treated Tetsuya on the other hand, is a good example. During one the first chapter of the manga, he ordered Tetsuya to throw his doubt and attack the enemy who hold Jun hostage(which is not only his love interest, shes technically his family). Sure, Tetsuya is a trained soldier, but the way that Tetsuya reacts shows how much of a Sadistic Choice it really is.
  • Another Mazinger Z character who suffered due to Abusive Parents was... Big Bad Dr. Hell himself. Like it was seen in the manga continuity penned by Gosaku Ota (that gave a backstory to most of the villains), since he was a child his mother abused him physically and emotionally (insulting him, stating openly she did not want getting kids and she would be better off if he would have never been born...) as his father shrugged off indifferently. The physical and psychological mistreatment he suffered back then is one of the reasons he decided Humans Are Bastards and he became so unhinged.
• Abusive Precursors: The Mykene Empire.
• Accidental Pervert: It happened several times, not only to Kouji but also to Sayaka. One example of it was original manga's episode 8 when they saw each other naked in the hot springs. Curiously there was not slapping or reproaching. After the initials screams they calmed down and apologized at each other. It was even cute.
  • And in the Mazinger vs Great General of Darkness movie, Kouji accidentally walked in Sayaka when she was having a shower in one of the first scenes. This time he was slapped.
• Achilles in His Tent: Kouji did this—out of all people! -- in episode 7. After mobs of people expressed their displeasure in having his hometown leveled by a Humongous Mecha battle by harassing him and after a quarrel with Sayaka, Kouji decided since nobody wanted him fighting, he would stay in home. Of course, it did not last long.
• Action Girl: Sayaka was among the first action-geared ladies in Japanese anime
• Adaptation Distillation: Seeing Pragmatic Adaptation below.
• Adults Are Useless: The series plays with the trope, but subverts it. The weapon most powerful in the world is handed over to a teenager, and Dr. Hell and his servants (who are all adults) are unable defeat a bunch of teenagers... but neither Kouji nor Sayaka nor Shiro—nor Boss and his gang—would have been capable of protecting humankind and defeat Dr. Hell if they would not been supported by plenty of adults. All workers in the Institute (starting with Prof. Yumi, who was a good scientist and strategist) were fully competent and without them Mazinger Z would have not got the frequent upgrades, repairs and maintenance it needed.
• Advanced Ancient Acropolis: The Mykene inhabited the Greek island of Bardos. Their technologic level was miles ahead of any other culture of the same time, and the rest of the world would need millennia to catch up. However, one earthquake shook their island and destroyed their cities, and they were forced to seek shelter underground. They founded another civilization Beneath the Earth, but on the surface the only remainder left of their presence were abandoned, decaying ruins, and old legends about the Humongous Mecha they used to defend their land.
• Affectionate Parody: Super Robot Retsuden, a Mazinger Z / Great Mazinger / UFO Robo Grendizer / Getter Robo / Kotetsu Jeeg Crossover with story and art by Ken Ishikawa parodies the seventies Toei Crossover movies featured several Go Nagai robots.
• Alliterative Name: Kouji Kabuto and his father, Kenzo Kabuto
• All Myths Are True: Dr. Hell joined an archaeological expedition to the Greek island of Bardos, thinking maybe several ancient legends told that island was defended by an army of mechanical giants were true. Unfortunately for everybody else, he was right. Classical Mythology plays an increasingly important role in each retelling of the series, until the point of Greek gods start showing up and Great Mazinger Big Bad is revealed to be Hades in Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The Institute is a preferred attack target.
• All Your Colors Combined: The Mazinger trilogy series have extensively played with this trope:
  • In Great Mazinger, the final battle is won when Mazinger, Great Mazinger, Aphrodite A and Venus A combine their strongest attacks to bring Cool Airship Demonika down.
  • In UFO Robo Grendizer, Mazinger-Z, Great Mazinger and Grendizer combined all of their attacks in one manga scene to destroy a Vegan Starship. And in one of the movies, Grendizer and Great Mazinger combined their Chest Blaster attacks to destroy a Saucer Beast.
  • In the first episode of Mazinkaiser, Mazinger-Z and Great Mazinger used their Chest Blaster weapons in combination to melt a Mechanical Beast to slag.
  • Great Mazinger and Getter Robo have also combined their attacks in several movies.
  • The Super Robot Wars games have exploited this. When several of the Go Nagai mechas show up in the same game, they are given combination attacks. It is usually called Final Dynamic Special, and it is always impressive: .
• Alternate Continuity: There are several manga versions. The original one was written and drawn by Go Nagai. A second version was drawn by Gosaku Ota—one of his assistants—that ran parallel to the anime series and was heavily influenced by it (That version was made when Sueisha realized two Mazinger Z mangas would make more profit that one). Gosaku Ota's manga showed the backstory of the Dr. Hell and his underlings. Other versions are: New Mazinger, Mazin Saga, Mazinger Angels, Shin Mazinger, Shin Mazinger Zero, different one-shots and short stories—one of them made by Ishikawa)... And then you have the different anime versions...
• Ancestral Weapon: Kouji probably counts, if you count his grandpa's and his dad's giant robot as an ancestral weapon.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: At one of the last episodes Sayaka was holding a wound Kouji in her arms, and thinking he was dead, she cried out she loved him. Then she found out he was just pretending being dead, and she decided to kill him for real.
  • And in the second chapter of Shin Mazinger Zero she falteringly uttered she loved Kouji shortly before dying.
• Animal Mecha: Several Mechanical Beasts resembled animals (insects, crabs, birds, whales, seahorses...), specially the Beasts commanded by Gorgon, which looked like mythological creatures (dragons, harpies...).
• Applied Phlebotinum: Koushi Ryoku (Photon Atomic) energy is what Mazinger-Z is powered with. When it runs out, Mazinger ceases functioning. It was discovered by Dr. Kabuto (ironically, in the Gosaku Ota episodes, it was stated he was already investigating it back in college, and one of his classmates helped him by correcting his calculations. Name of that classmate? Hell). It is repeatedly stated and shown in the series Photon energy must be used in conjunction with a body made from Japanium, or the Humongous Mecha is less effective: either the weapons are too powerful and overload the computer and damage the armor, or the robot is sturdy but its weapons are weak.
  • Phlebotinum Battery: Mazinger Z runs on an engine powered by Photon Atomic engine. When it runs out of Photon energy, it ceases functioning and it has to be replenished to work again. Great Mazinger and Mazinkaiser also works with a Photon engine. Grendizer works with the same principle but different energy source.
• Arc Words: "When you pilot Mazinger, you can become a god or a devil."
• Arm Cannon: Besides shooting its fists, Mazinger Z hid a cannon in each upper arm shot drilling missiles. Several Mechanical Beasts had cannons (or even machine guns like Balkan P5) instead of limbs. An example stands out is Debira X1 (a beast seemed a blend between bat and vampire) had a hidden leg cannon (and blew one whole Mazinger's arm off with it).
• Armed Legs: Mazinger-Z had one rocket on each foot to propel it underwater, but Kouji also used them to fight. Usually he blast with them a ¨Mechanical Beast's face to force it to release Mazinger.
• Armor-Piercing Slap: Kouji, being a tactless Idiot Hero, finds himself in the receiving end of these rather often.
• Asskicking Pose: Mazinger-Z asskicking pose was pretty simple: upon activation, the robot flexed its arms over its head. Most likely it is a Shout-Out to Gigantor, what did the same thing. Great Mazinger and UFO Robo Grendizer, on the other hand, had not one.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Many Robeast could switch sizes (the first was Baikong 09). Also, in an early episode Dr. Hell built a size-changing ray and turned Baron Ashura in a giant with it.
• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Kouji and Sayaka. Although in the original manga they got along well, the anime series took their Belligerent Sexual Tension up to eleven—and some of their fights were legendary. However, you always had moments where they stopped to get mad, bicker and insult each other and showed they cared for each other very much.
  • In episode 29 Kouji saw a Mechanical Beast—Grengus C3—walking from the direction where Aphrodite A -- Sayaka's Fembot—had gone at before. Immediately he panicked, got on a bike and drove towards the place, yelling "Sayaka" all the way (he was so freaked out he did not realize the bike he had got was not his). When he finally found her—wounded and lying down on the floor beside Aphrodite A's remains—he shook her awake and hugged her.
  • And in another episode, Kouji and Sayaka got an actually serious fight, and Sayaka refused to back him up in battle. When he was seriously injured, Sayaka took care of him in the hospital and kissed him in his comatose sleep.
• Badass Biker: Kouji. Boss also arguably counts.
• Badass Boast: In the Great Mazinger manga, when Dr. Hell learnt about the Mass Production Mazinger army the Japanese army was building, he swore he would crush Japan in merely ten days and the world would witness the true power of Dr. Hell.
• Badass Family: Dr. Kabuto and his son built the most powerful robots in the world. Kouji has fought and stomped whole squads of armed soldiers, and trashed dozens of massive war machines. Even his little brother is also perfectly capable defend himself on one fight.
• Badass in Distress: Although he undoubtedly is a Badass, and he is a competent fighter can take care of himself even when he is outside of his Humongous Mecha, Kouji often needed being rescued either because he had fallen into a trap or because the odds were brutally against him. It happened in all series in the trilogy and in Mazinkaiser, but it was specially glaring in UFO Robo Grendizer, where he was demoted from The Hero to The Lancer, and instead of a Humongous Mecha he piloted a support unit. However usually he was saved by a Big Damn Heroes moment from Sayaka, Boss, Tetsuya or Duke, so even when he was in danger, usually it ended up in a Crowning Moment of Awesome.
• Baka: Sayaka calls this to Kouji when he gets her angry... which happens often.
• Baleful Polymorph: In a story of the Gosaku Ota episodes, a race of giant, man-eater, fish-alike, humanoid Eldritch Abominations from another dimension named Chip Kamoy tried to invade Earth. They kidnapped a normal human girl and transformed her into a mermaid-like being to communicate with humans. Later they trapped The Hero Kouji Kabuto and she helped him to escape. In punishment she got executed by the Chip Kamoy.
• Bash Brothers: Kouji and Boss (when they were not fighting), Kouji and Tetsuya (when they were not arguing) and Kouji and Duke.
• Batman Gambit: Kouji used several throughout the whole trilogy, often mixing them with Crazy Enough to Work. For example, in one chapter a Mechanical Beast -Kirma K5- sliced a chunk of one Mazinger-Z's wing during an aerial battle. Kouji could not balance his Humongous Mecha and he fell towards the ground. Then he goaded Kirma into attacking him again, and positioned Mazinger so his foe's Sinister Scythe sliced a chunk of the another wing. Now the Mazinger wings were the same length again, and his enemy was nearby, he could balance Mazinger back and grab Kirma. As he was beating the crap out of the Robeast he gloated it should have let him drop.
  • Prof. Yumi -and later Prof. Kenzo Kabuto- also used the Batman Gambit fairly often.
• Battle Couple: Sayaka and Kouji, at their best.
• Beam-O-War: Sometimes Mazinger Z and a Mechanical Beast engaged in this, and usually Kouji used Mazinger's Breast Fire to couterattack their energy beams or waves. Some examples happened in episode 11 (against Brighton J2) and episode 30 (against Brutus M3).
• Becoming the Mask: Erika. She was a android built by Dr. Hell. However, she suffered from amnesia and had forgotten her origins. She genuinely believed she was a normal girl, and when she was told her true nature, she rejected it. And the end she helped Kouji and she died cause it.
• Beehive Barrier: The Photonic Research Institute uses a energy barrier to protect the facility when under attack.
  • And in the Shin Mazinger Zero manga, Minerva X used a Beehive Barrier to protect Kouji Kabuto and Mazinger Z.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Koji and Sayaka did this even before Ranma and Akane.
• Beneath the Earth: Not surprisingly, Mazinger Z introduced this trope in Humongous Mecha anime. The Mykene were a civilization lived and thrived in the Greek island of Bardos millennia ago, using mechanical giants blast fire from their chests to protecting their land from invaders. An earthquake destroyed their island and forced them to seek shelter underground. They lived below Earth for millennia, building their cities in networks of subterranean tunnels and caverns and grafting their bodies into Humongous Mecha to survive.
• Berserk Button: Kouji has several of them: insulting his grandfather, hurting Sayaka, harming innocents... Sayaka also gets easily mad when someone mocks her skills or makes Stay in the Kitchen statements directed to her (needless to say, Kouji pressed her Berserk Button constantly).
  • And in Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen, when Boss and his goons insulted Kouji's grandfather one too many times, he promptly beat the ever-loving crap out of Boss, and would have seriously hurt him if Sayaka hadn't interrupted to tell Kouji that his grandfather was in real danger.
  • And in the Shin Mazinger Zero manga, you do NOT try and harm Sayaka. Otherwise, Kouji... will not be nice to you.
• Between My Legs: The intro of the show... with Humongous Mecha instead of The Vamp.
  • And the first page of a chapter of Shin Mazinger Zero, with Kouji and two Gamias being seen between the legs of Minerva-X.
• Biker Babe: Sayaka.
• Big Bad: Dr. Hell
• Bigger Bad: The Emperor of Darkness -who fits the bill like God of Evil-. The Humongous Mecha Big Bad Dr. Hell found were ancient -and severely outdated- weapons of his army. During the first series he did not directly interfere with the plot, and he remained in his underground empire, watching the war between Kouji Kabuto and Dr. Hell as one of his underlyings schemed to bring both of them down. After causing the end of Dr. Hell's army and Mazinger-Z he became Big Bad of the next series.
• Big Damn Heroes: Kouji -and Sayaka, and even Boss- pulled this off sometimes. However, the most memorable moment happened in the final episode (and its extended movie version) when a new enemy army appears and proceed to completely overwhelm Kouji. As the Mazinger barely holds itself even a tiny bit together, the Great Mazinger shows up just before the final blow is struck and proceeds to absolutely dominate the new foes. Also something he's fond of doing in remakes, often with a nice big THUNDER BREAK to blast any number of enemies ready to swarm his allies. Also some really nice descending from the clouds shots.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Several Kikaiju (such like Winder A2 or Megaron P1 and its "brothers") resemble slightly humanoid insects.
• Big Eater: Kouji and Boss.
• Big No: Kouji utters one when his grandfather dies.
• Black and White Morality: At first sight the Mazinger trilogy seems belonging to this trope since the the heroes are mostly good guys and the villains tend to be Complete Monsters, but in reality the morality in these series is more greyish than it seems. Dr. Hell became mad after having endured years of abuse, insults and mockery from everybody -- including his parents -- since he was a little kid, and even when he made a good action, he usually got beaten and scorned. Great General of Darkness wanted taking over the surface world because the Mykene civilization had been forced to live underground for millennia and he wanted his people enjoyed again things humans take for granted—such like seeing sunlight and breathing fresh air. Emperor Vega began invading other planets because his own homeworld was dying, and several of his henchmen were Well Intentioned Extremists wanted establishing a benevolent dictatorship because they genuinely believed Earth people would be better off. And, frankly, humans in the Mazinger trilogy often acted like utter bastards and forced the heroes to ponder why they bothered.
• The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: It happened every so often, but not so often like in the sequel.
• Blind Idiot Translation: This Mazinger Z sub. Tall Evil God. Doctor Hill. Asla. It just... it just keeps going.
  • As mazin sounds like majin (demon god) this may explain why Mazinger is translated as Tall Evil God.
  • Crabstick. Asia directs the beast king armies of Dr. Hill with its Crabstick.
• Body Horror: The Iron Masks (what lies beneath their helmets is not pretty), Viscount Pygman, the Kedora, a lot of Mykene Monsters... Given that this is a work of the creator of Devilman, it was to be expected.
• Boss Subtitles: Every time a Kikaiju appeared for first time, its name was splashed on the screen. Two exceptions were Zaila and Danchel, since the title stated their names but not their respective letter/number code. You would have to read any of the Mazinger-related books for finding out.
• Bragging Theme Tune
• Brain In a Jar: The Kedora. Ken Ishikawa one-shot "The Relic of Evil" revealed that the Mykene controlled his Robeast by grafting the brain of a soldier taught to destroy all no Mykene civilizations into a parasitic organism, and it fused with a robot, giving the Mykene soldier complete control. They would show up later in Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen.
• Brainy Brunette: Professor Gennosuke Yumi and his daughter, Sayaka. Yumi is a Badass Bookworm, and although Sayaka is an Action Girl, she is pretty smart and knowledgeable.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Yuri, Sayaka's cousin. She showed up in episode 23. She was a wheelchair-bound little girl felt lonely because her parents were never at home; so she refused training her legs because she wanted people looked to her, and she demanded all paid attention to her and oblige her whims (she seemed having a crush on Kouji, too). Needless to say, she got in big trouble, that led to a It's All My Fault moment.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The original manga penned by Go Nagai broke the fourth wall several times. In one of the first episodes Kouji gets forced to kill a Mook in self-defense and he suffers s Heroic BSOD thinking he is a murderer... until another character calms him down stating he was only defending himself and he is the main character and The Hero, so he did no wrong. And in this page Count Brocken complains Kouji is a Combat Pragmatist and yells the main character should not fight dirty and the fans will cry. Kouji was not impressed.
• Breast Expansion: In a rare, non-human example Aphrodite A once got this. Kouji thought it would help to fight a flying mechanical beast (Gelbros J3). It Makes Sense in Context.
• Breath Weapon: Rust Hurricane. Mazinger blows a jet of particle-charged wind from its mouth grill that corrodes the enemy into nothingness. Many Mechanical Beasts also had breath-based attacks, usually expelling out fire, acid or even poison.
• Bridge Bunnies: Photon Atomic Enery Research Institute Bridge Bunnies were a male trio and wore white uniforms. They performed the ordinary functions of Mission Control, collecting and interpreting data and reading it to The Professor or the pilots of the Humongous Mecha, as well as sending them orders or receiving their messages.
• Brought to You by The Letter "S": Although the original series avoided this, in later retellings and spin-offs Mazinger-Z wore a big "Z" letter in such the chest, the Hover Pilder or the Jet Scrander.
• Calling Your Attacks: And HOW! Heck, arguably, Kouji MADE the trope.
• Canon Immigrant: Mazinkaizer, from Super Robot Wars 4.
• Caped Mecha: Great General of Darkness.
• Captain Obvious: Episode 27. Aphrodite A steps on one trap and starts sinking in the floor.
  • ->Sayaka: "What is happening? I am sinking!" Wow, seriously?
• Cargo Ship: A mind-screwing example, overlapping with Robo Ship. Minerva-X was a FemBot was programmed to be Mazinger-Z's Battle Couple. So she was in love with it. However, she ALSO was a Humongous Mecha, only unlike Mazinger she was sentient, had her own mind and could feel, think and act on her own. Sayaka declaring only HER FemBot Aphrodite-A was Mazinger-Z's true Battle Couple did not help matters...
  • Robo Ship: Mazinger-Z and Aphrodite A (and later Diana-A). Also, Mazinger-Z and Minerva-X. Minerva considered matter-of-fact she was Mazinger's partner; however, Sayaka insisted ONLY Aphrodite-A was true's Mazinger partner.
• Cash Cow Franchise
• Changed My Mind, Kid: Kouji, after an Achilles in His Tent episode in chapter 7.
• Character Development: It was not huge but it was there. For example, Kouji's sexism diluded somewhat through the episodes. At the beginning, Kouji flatly refuses Aphrodite gets modified into a full-fldged battle robot, declaring he does not need aid, and stating -to Sayaka's face- girls should not fight (Predictably, Sayaka was not amused by this). Several dozens of episodes later, Aphrodite A is utterly destroyed in battle, Sayaka nearly loses it (see Heroic BSOD example), and a new robot is built for her. Kouji asks the professors endowing it with weapons.
• Character Title: Take a guess.
• Chest Blaster: "Breast Fire!"
• Classical Mythology: It has an increasingly importance in the series. Dr. Hell finding several Humongous Mecha in the underground mazes of a Greek island has its basis on the Greek legend of Talos, the giant man of bronze protected Creta . Gorgon's Robeasts resembled gods, heroes and creatures found in the Greek myths. And in later retellings of the story (Z-Mazinger and Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen), Mazinger-Z turns out to be Zeus and Emperor of Darkness becomes Hades.
• Climactic Volcano Backdrop: Several climatic battles happened next to volcanoes and lava pools. In episode 25 Kouji fought Aeros B2 and B3 next to Mount Fuji's crater, and lava bubbled and spilled out of the pool as they brawled, threatening with engulfing them. In one manga chapter penned by Gosaku Ota, Kouji and Holzon V3 battle took place into the crater of Mount Fuji, with the sheer walls of the volcano as background, toxic fumes rising and swirling around them and magma sizzling and churning under their feet. And then you have the episode where Mazinger-Z got dunked in lava...
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Sayaka, sometimes. The most egregious example, though, is "Minerva X", a Sentient Mecha that loves Mazinger Z and is openly jealous of Sayaka's Aphrodite A.
  • It happened to Sayaka whenever a beautiful girl hang around Kouji: Hitomi, Erika, Misato...
• Clothing Damage: It happened to Sayaka in the original manga sometimes (too many times for her liking). Given that it was created by the man introduced Fanservice in anime, it is not surprising. In one chapter, several female robots with blades replacing her arms sliced her dress to ribbons, without actually cutting her flesh or underwear.
• Colonel Badass: Commander Badass, in this case: Great General of Darkness/Ankoku Daishogun, The Dragon of the Emperor of Darkness and commander of the seven armies of the Mykene Empire. He wields a BFS, sports a Badass Cape and a Badass Beard, and he can kick the butt of nearly any Humongous Mecha invented by Go Nagai. He led the army of Mykene Empire, personally or delegating on his generals, and he was A Father to His Men considered unforgivable default intelligence costed the lives of his troops. He fought Great Mazinger because he knew he could win, slicing it with his blade mercilessly as he laughed its attacks off. And he fought Mazinkaiser quite evenly.
• Combat Pragmatist: Koji, like you wouldn't believe. In his first appearance, in which he just received Mazinger. his fight is filled by abusing the fact that Mazinger really IS invincible(at least for that point). During his second appearance, he is not above tricking his opponent to think that he gives up the fight only to kick ass. And he does this several time during the course of the series.
  • Let's think of it, is there some Go Nagai character is NOT a Combat Pragmatism? Kouji, Tetsuya, Akira, Honey, Enma-kun... Neither of them seems worried about fighting fairly.
  • In this page Count Brocken called him on it (Breaking the Fourth Wall to do so). Kouji's answer was a Shut UP, Hannibal.
• Combat Tentacles: Several Mechanical Beasts: Stronger T4, Megaron P1 and its "siblings", Gambina M5... And in Shin Mazinger Zero Juzo Kabuto.
• Combining Mecha: Mazinger-Z is the first example -not surprise here- of this trope in Humongous Mecha anime, being of the Mecha Expansion Pack Augment kind: the robot is powered by dropping a small aircraft (the Hover Pilder) onto its head. And then it is combined with a Jet Pack to allow it fly.
• Companion Cube: Several times the characters talked to or about Mazinger-Z and Aphrodite A like if they were sentient beings. Sayaka actually had a Heroic BSOD when Aphrodite A was destroyed. She even hallucinated Aphrodite was calling her. And then you have Minerva-X, an actual sentient FemBot and Humongous Mecha could act, think and feel on her own and was programmed to be Mazinger-Z's Battle Couple, and considered Mazinger was meant to be HER Companion Cube.
• Context Sensitive Button: Inverted example. Mazinger's cockpit was full with buttons and levers, and it is unclear what did what. Sometimes Kouji pressed completely different buttons to activate the same weapon. At least when Kouji started the Hover Pilder and took off it was consistent.
  • It was inverted AND deconstructed. Even although it is unclear every button and lever's function, EVERY ONE has a very specific function, and you can NOT simply press a random button and expecting Mazinger Z does whatever you want in the time. The first time Kouji activated Mazinger in the original manga, he nearly demolished one half city because he kept punching random buttons as trying figuring out how handling the damned thing. The same thing happened in the anime series, with the variation of it did not happen in one city. Even so, Kouji nearly got his little brother killed.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Kouji and Shiro's parents died on a laboratory accident but in reality only their mother died. Sayaka has also lost her mother.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Many battles happened around volcanoes, near volcanoes or IN volcanoes, and at least once The Hero Kouji was dunked in lava. Since Kouji always remained inside Mazinger-Z, his Humongous Mecha provided protection from extreme heat, toxic fumes and other dangers, but in the episode where Mazinger-Z took an unwilling magma dive it was stated not even Mazinger-Z's armor and heat-insulation could endure THAT for long, and Kouji eventually would die of burning, dehydration or asphyxia. The sequels -Great Mazinger, UFO Robo Grendizer- and reimaginations Mazinkaiser played with the trope as well.
• Cool Airship: Guru, Count Brocken's aerial fortress. It appears for first time at the episode 40.
• Cool Bike: Kouji is a Go Nagai main character. Go Nagai main characters ride bikes. Sayaka and Boss also ride bikes.
  • Energer Z, the "prototype" design of Mazinger, was controlled by a motorcycle driven into the head; for the final version Nagai replaced it with the Hover Pilder because he was concerned the bike would look like a rip-off of Kamen Rider.
• Cool Helmet: Kouji and Sayaka wear one. Kouji began wearing it (along his Latex Space Suit) after his first battles since his head got hit several times.
• Cool Old Guy: Dr. Juzo Kabuto. He escaped alive from two Hell's assassination attempts (they were two in the Gosaku Ota manga). He built the eighteen-meter-tall, One-Man Army Humongous Mecha was the last hope of humanity. He saved his son's life, turning him into a cyborg. When Ashura blew up his mansion, he got half-buried under several metal rafts, but in spite of he was moribund and trapped in an underground basement, he managed surviving until his grandsons showed up and he could hand Mazinger over to Kouji. And in the manga and Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen he overlaps this with Crazy Awesome.
• Cool Ship: Salude and Bood, Baron Ashura's submarine fortresses.
  • Underwater Base
• Crazy Enough to Work: Kouji's plans CAN be carefully and throughtfully planned strategies, but many times his plans are an Indy Ploy or... this. One example happened in episode 32: Mazinger Z got the crap beaten out of it by Gelbros J3, a flying, three-headed dragon-looking Mechanical Beast. Mazinger could not fly -yet-, so Kouji could not fight back. His plan was... equiping Aphrodite A with even bigger Torpedo Tits. During the battle Sayaka shot them, Mazinger latched on the giant missiles and was propelled it skywards, where Kouji was capable to reach the Robeast and shoot it down.
• Crazy Prepared: In one episode, an enemy was unceasingly shooting missiles at the Hover Pilder to preventing Kouji from docking with Mazinger. Kouji pressed a button, and his vehicle let go a trail of smoke to make the enemy believing he had been shot down and having him stopping to shoot as he docked.
• Crossover: with Devilman in the Mazinger Z vs Devilman movie; with Devilman and Violence Jack in the CB Chara Go Nagai World OVA series (with cameos from a few other Nagai series); with Great Mazinger, Grendizer, Getter Robo and Kotetsu Jeeg in the Ken Ishikawa's manga Super Robo Retsuden; and with Great Mazinger, UFO Robo Grendizer, Getter Robo, Getter Robo G, Devilman and Cutey Honey in the Dynamic Heroes e-manga (also known as Nagai Go Manga Gaiden - Dynamic Heroes or Go Nagai manga heroes crossover collection - Dynamic Heroes), an e-manga released in 2004 and later compiled in tankoubon.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Both Kouji and Mazinger are subjected to this several times in the course of the series. So did Shiro, Boss, Nuke and Much. Ashura seemed to love this Trope. Also, Devilman himself in the movie Mazinger vs Devilman.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Dr. Hell is wealthy enough to build dozens of giant, humanoids war machines, Doomsday weapons, squad of cyborgs, several HQ, aircrafts, submarines... It was kind of justified in the Ota's manga when Dr. Hell revealed shortly after finding the old Mykene's mechanical warriors, Count Brocken took over several ancient European Mafia in order to earn cash for Hell.
• Cyborg: All villains -except Dr. Hell- were cyborgs: Baron Ashura, Count Brocken, their Mooks... All of them -except by Archduke Gorgon- were created by Hell himself. Usually he fabricated his cyborgs by modifying corpses, replacing damaged parts with artificial limbs or organs and implanting cybernetic components in their brains to create obedient, brainwashed slaves (and there was at least one scene in one of the manga versions where Baron Ashura killed many people off, as gloating they would be transformed into cyborgs and turned into his/her slaves. Now you know what happened to all people died when a Mechanical Beast attacked). It looked like this. However, in at least one instance he saved the life of the subject -Count Brocken- by turning him into a cyborg. Other cyborg characters were Kenzo Kabuto and in the Gosaku Ota manga Kouji Kabuto himself was turned into one by the end of the series.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: The Iron Mask and Iron Cross are Cyborgs Dr. Hell created by grafting cybernetic implants in the brain of corpses (many of which he, his Co-Dragons or his Humongous Mecha had murdered). Not only they are not allowed rest in peace but they have been mindwiped and programmed to be mindless slaves. One of them even gloated to Kouji Kabuto he was glad of no longer being worried about pesky things such like thinking, hesitating, worrying or fearing death and he was a perfect soldier. Of course, Kouji was not impressed:

Kouji: "You idiot, such a thing wouldn't even be human!"

• Daddy Had a Good Reason For Abandoning You: It is both played straight and subverted:
  • It is played straight with Kenzo. His sons, Kouji and Shiro grew up believing their parents had died cause a laboratory experiment that went wrong. However, Kenzo's father saved his son's life by turning him into a cyborg. However, neither of them told Kouji and Shiro he was alive because Kenzo was going to build a Humongous Mecha to repel the Mykene invasion they predicted, and train its pilot. And both his father and he wanted to shield Kouji and Shiro from danger and psychological shock. It was not a bad reason, even if it was somewhat weak because Juzo was also building another Humongous Mecha and he raised them, even if he hired a maid because he was nearly always absent. When Kenzo revealed the truth to his little son, it took a long while for Shiro forgiving him. Though Kouji forgave him right away.
  • It is subverted with Kouji and Shiro's mother. In episode 90 from Mazinger Z, their mother appeared in the Institute, revealing she was alive and asking meeting her sons before telling them why she let them believe she was dead during years. Shiro was happy of getting his mother back, but Kouji was distrustful. It turned out that Kouji was right. Their mother was truly dead and that woman was a cyborg had fabricated Dr. Hell to infiltrate in the Institute and destroying Mazinger from within. So her "good reason for abandoning them" was false.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy: The Kikaiju Grengus C3. It confronted Mazinger-Z in a lake. The first thing it did was violently hitting the water's surface to splash the Pilder's glass cockpit. So Kouji was unable to see its attack and prepare for it.
• Darkest Hour: Its Darkest Hour happened in episode 92, but the Mazinger vs Great General of Darkness expanded upon it and turned it even more tragic: The army of Mykene Empire struck, easily razing several big cities (Londo, New York, Moscow...) to ruins. When they raided Tokyo, Kouji flew to fight them... and got the crap beaten out of him. When he returned to the Institute, he found out several Mykene Beasts had smashed the place, destroying Sayaka and Boss's Humongous Mecha. And Shiro, his little brother, had been hurt when a ceiling collapsed, and he urgently needed a blood transfusion. In spite of he was weak -and he was underage- Kouji DID demand they used his blood. Later, at the night, he was sitting in what was left of his bedroom, observing a picture of his father and his grandfather and crying Manly Tears as he muttered the Mykene Beasts would return, and he could not win, but he would fight even though he knew he was going to die (unbeknownst to him, sayaka was observing him, shedding tears as she heard him talking).
• Deadly Gas: When Kouji and a Mechanical Beast fought near the crater of a volcano, toxic volcanic fumes pervaded the atmosphere (and unlike other examples of this trope, those fumes had a greyish color). Given that the Home Base of the heroes was located on Mount Fuji, it happened more often than you would expect. One example happened in episode 19: Kouji is engaged in aerial battle with a Mechanical Beast -Debira X-1-. During the fight they fly over Mount Fuji, and Kouji's visibility gets hindered by the dense curtain of poisonous gas rises from the crater.
• Death From Above: Jenova M9 was a Robeast could shoot an enemy down several milles away. It tried to shoot Kouji Kabuto down from the atmosphere, where neither him nor Mazinger-Z could reach it.
• Destructive Saviour: This trope was played tragically. As soon as the first episode we could see how destructive Mazinger-Z may be (in the original manga, Kouji destroyed half city as he was trying figuring out how handling the damned machine. In the anime series he activated Mazinger on an unpopulated area; still, he destroyed his grandfather's lab, went on a rampage through the landscape and nearly got his little brother killed). When Kouji and Sayaka battle a Mechanical Beast, usually there is not much left of the battlefield in the wake of the fight. And when it is a city, buildings crumble down and people dies. As soon as the episode 7 it was shown people did NOT appreciate this and as far as they were concerned, Mazinger-Z was just so bad like Dr. Hell's Mechnical Beasts.
• Detachment Combat: Several of the giant robots fought by Mazinger Z had this ability: Deimos F3, Velgas V5 (its parts had individual rocket propulsion and could attack separately), and a third one. Mazinger Z itself and one of its successors, Mazinkaiser, also did it sometimes (detaching the Scrander Jet/Scrander Kaiser off themselves. Moreover, Mazinkaiser used its wings like a cutting, oversized boomerang).
• The Determinator: Kouji never gives up. Not even when he is going against several Kikaiju at once. Not even when the Robeast is completely impervious to his Humongous Mecha's attacks. Not even when it has abilities his robot could not match (he faced submarine and flying Kikaiju long before Mazinger got upgraded to be able to fly or swim or got weapons worked under water or in air). Not even when he is buried under rubble. Not even when he gets dumped into a freaking volcano! Not matter the odds, he will think fast, analyze his foe (and its weapons and capabilities), come up with a plan or cheat like crazy.
  • Geez, not even when he KNOWS the fight is utterly hopeless and there is no way to win he will quit. In the last episode of Mazinger Z and in the movie Mazinger Z tai Ankoku Daishogun he deployed Mazinger Z as stating he was not walking alive out of that battle and he knew that... but he did not care.
  • The only way you can get him stopping to fight is holding someone hostage. And even then he will try to exploit any edge to release the hostage and giving you a sound trashing.
• Delinquents: The Moral Guardians of the era didn't like Kouji, because he skipped school and used rough language.
• Despair Event Horizon: Kouji crossed it during the Mazinger-Z vs Great General of Darkness movie. After several Mykene Warrior Monsters have easily destroyed four major cities (Paris, London, New York and Moscow) they strike Tokyo. He launches Mazinger-Z to fight them... and he barely walks out of it alive. The Warrior Monsters easily rip his mecha apart and turn Tokyo into burning ruins as he is unable make anything to stop them. Back in the Institute, he learns MORE Warrior Monsters have visited while he was away. His Home Base is in ruins, Sayaka and Boss' Humongous Mecha have been destroyed, and worst of all, his little brother got hurt cause collapsing ceiling and is in coma. Later, Kouji was sitting on -the remains of- his room, and he cried as he said he knew he could not win and he was going to die in the next battle. Sayaka, who was eavesdropping, also cried as hearing him.
• Did You Die?: In episode 91, Kouji tries to bring a severely beaten Boss around. Boss mutters he is dead, and Kouji remindes him dead people can not speak. Boss realizes he is right and stands up.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Done by Kouji Kabuto in the Mazinger-Z vs Devilman movie, when he beats the crap out of an army of demons as piloting his Humongous Mecha.
• Disguised in Drag: Done by -of all people!- Baron Ashura at least twice (in episodes 7 and 36). He/she disguised like a woman to manipulate a mob or frighten nosy people away one of his/her operations. Fortunately he/she was a shape-shifter, so it was not so hard looking like a woman how it would be to him/her (on the grounds of Ashura being half-male, half-female). It overlapped with Creepy Crossdresser since it was pretty squicky -and eerie-.
• Disposable Woman: Rumi was the maid Prof. Kabuto had hired to take care of his grandsons while he was creating Mazinger Z. She was cold-bloodly murdered by Baron Ashura less than five minutes after her first appearance. Kouji and Shiro cried when they found the corpse, but she was not mentioned again after the first episode.
• Distaff Counterpart: Aphrodite A and Diana A; Minerva X is a greater example, since it is quite literally a feminine version of Mazinger.
  • Similarly, in the Mazinger Angels manga (a spoof of Charlie's Angels) the main characters are Sayaka, Jun, Hikaru and Maria, piloting Aphrodite A, Venus A, Diana A and Minerva X, respectively. It's like your usual Crossover blending Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger and UFO Robo Grendizer, but Gender Flipped: the male pilots and their robots are nowhere to be seen, and the main characters are the female leads and robots.
• Distracted by the Sexy: It happened fairly often in the manga. Usually was Sayaka the one did the -unwilling- distraction -either because her clothes were torn or because she was involuntarily naked-, but sometimes it was done by enemies to distract Kouji. The Gamia sisters come to mind...
• Do-Anything Robot: Mazinger Z has weapons to solve nearly any situation it can find (although it helps Mazinger is piloted by a quick-thinking Genius Ditz is able of devising new strategies -or ways to get himself out of trouble- on the fly), and throughout the series it gets upgraded equiped to combat at any enviroment.
• The Dog Shot First: Inverted. In the Mazinkaiser OVA, Doctor Hell dies because his base exploded while he was trying to escape. When Go Nagai penned the Mazinkaiser manga, Kouji shoots him in an abrupt, albeit iconic and stylized, sequence.
• Doing In the Wizard: In the Mazinger versus Great General of Darkness, a prophet warns Boss and his gang -and later Kouji and his friends- about the inminent Mykene invasion. It turns out that in reality he was Prof. Kenzo Kabuto, father of Kouji and Shiro, who kenw about the Mykene for reasons have nothing to do with prophecies.
  • And in the episode 36 of Mazinger Z, Baron Ashura pretended being a witch.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Done as soon as the SECOND episode, when Baron Ashura announced the world belonged to Dr. Hell henceforth and all who opposed to him (i. e.: Mazinger-Z and the Photonic Research Institute) would be destroyed. Since then it was often employed by Dr. Hell and Baron Ashura to threaten, make demands, blackmail the Japanese Government, spreading lies and misinformation about the heroes and -successfully- scare people away in making their biding. In Great Mazinger, Great Marshall Of Hell was the only Mykene commander broadcast his demands by TV, showing Dr. Hell did not lose that custom even after dying and being brought back to life.
• Doomsday Device: Several of them. Dr. Hell -and sometimes Ashura- loved to build them (and in the manga of Gosaku Ota, he stated he was already working on them when he working for Hitler, but he kept them for himself. He also claimed if he would have revealed all his inventions, Germany would have won the war).
  • In Great Mazinger, Great Marshall of Hell a revived Dr. Hell grafted into a Humongous Mecha kept on that tradition. One of those devices -appeared only in one of the manga versions- was a giant, ice lens orbited around Earth and worked like a Kill Sat.
• Downer Ending: The original series ended with Kouji killing Dr. Hell. However, the Mykene Empire -that had been awaiting for one of their enemies destroying the other- struck inmediately, razing to rubble several major cities -New York, London, Paris, Moscow and Tokyo-, bringing down the Photon Power Research Institute, destroying Diana-A, Boss Borot and Mazinger-Z itself. Kouji almost died, and he was saved by Tetsuya Tesurugi pulling off a Big Damn Heroes moment with Great Mazinger. The series ended with the humanity on the brink of being wiped out as several characters told Mazinger-Z was now useless. And later, in Great Mazinger, Dr. Hell returned, showing Kouji's efforts and struggle had been all for nothing. It was even worse in several retelling of the series:
  • In Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen even though Kouji kills Dr. Hell and saves the day, it turned out to be a Batman Gambit by Baron Ashura, ensuring the Mikene Empire will rise and the series ends with Mazinger-Z defeated, the God Scrander destroyed!
  • In Shin Mazinger Zero, the characters are locked in a Groundhog Day time loop where Mazinger-Z has became a demon/EldritchAbomination and destroyed the world. It has happened 2,977 times so far...
• The Dragon: Baron Ashura.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: Gorgon. Supposedly he allied himself with Dr. Hell, but in reality he only was biding his time for betraying him, getting him killed ( He literally backstabbed him in the Gosaku Ota manga), and destroying Mazinger Z. He succeeded on all fronts.
• Drives Like Crazy: Koji is a not a bad driver. Oh, no. In fact, when he drives he is the only person on the road is absolutely safe. He is a Badass Biker believes traffic regulations are mere suggestions, limit speed is a myth and bikes were made to pull crazy stunts with them.
• Dropping the Bombshell: Kouji and Tetsuya talk after the later saved the former's life by pulling a Big Damn Heroes moment:

Kouji: Your robot is great. What is its name?
Tetsuya: Great Mazinger.
Kouji: Great... Mazinger?
Tetsuya: It's the "brother" of the original Mazinger-Z.
Kouji: It is WHAT?

• Dug Too Deep: An archaelogical expedition researching ancient ruins in the Greek Island of Bardos went too deep in the underground mazes of the island and found an army of Humongous Mecha. Subverted, since Dr. Hell hoped finding them and using them to further his goals. Also, when Hell seized those robots, he drew the attention of the Mykene Empire -an ancient civilization had been forced to live underground- and they decided return to the surface quite violently.
• Ear Worm: "MAZIN GO! MAZIN GO! MAZZZINNGGAAAA Z!!!!"
• Elaborate Underground Base: Dr. Hell's first base spread underground, along the mazes of the Island of Bardos.
  • Dr. Kabuto's lab basement also counts. It was hilariously lampshaded by Kouji in the original manga (since Kabuto had built Mazinger in his home in the middle of a city instead of in his mansion located in Mount Fuji), when he found the entrance and asked: "Since when is there a basement in the garden?"
• Eldritch Abomination: Several of them showed up in the trilogy, often overlapping with Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: the demons of the Mazinger-Z vs Devilman movie, Great Emperor of Darkness as well known as Hades (Big Bad from Great Mazinger), Gilgilgan (of the Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo movie), Grangen (of the Great Mazinger vs Getter Robo G feature), Dragonsaurus (of Grendizer, Getter Robot G, Great Mazinger: Kessen! Daikaijuu movie), Varon the Annihilator (Bigbad of Super Robot Retsuden, a Crossover penned by Ken Ishikawa featuring the most popular Humongous Mecha of Go Nagai)... and in the Shin Mazinger Zero manga Mazinger-Z itself.
• Enemy Civil War: Brocken and Ashura openly hate each other and compete for Dr. Hell's approval
• Enthusiasm Versus Stoicism
• Essential Anime: Super Robot Trope Codifier. Aired in Japan from 1972 to 1974. The show that launched the Super Robot Genre. While Tetsujin 28 was the original giant robot, Mazinger is probably the most influential and biggest Trope Maker.
• Eva Fins: Not Mazinger-Z itself, but some Kikaiju -like Baras K9- had them.
• Everybody Hates Hades
• Everyone Can See It: Kouji and Sayaka. Everyone can see it (including a very mortified and jealous Boss)... but Kouji.
• Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: In God Mazinger, the Big Bad used an army of dinosaurs.
• Everything's Better with Princesses: In several series there is at least one princess:
  • UFO Robo Grendizer: Maria Grace Fleed, sister to Duke Fleed was a Spoiled Sweet Tsundere, Warrior Princess and mecha pilot. Princess Rubina a Too Good for This Sinful Earth Fiery Redhead was daughter of Big Bad King Vega and Duke Fleed's fiancee attempted to convince everyone to stop the war and find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
  • God Mazinger: Princess Aira, who ruled the kingdom of Mu alongside her father.
  • New Mazinger: Princess Krishna a Damsel in Distress Major Kabuto met when he was accidentally thrown in another dimension. She was trying to keep her kingdom together after her father got murdered in an ambush.
• Everything's Better with Spinning: The Big Swing Rocket Punch, one of Mazinger's most infamous Finishing Moves, is simply Kouji having Mazinger spin its arms around, to build up major momentum, before launching its fists. It's several times more powerful than the normal Rocket Punch.
• Evil Is Hammy: Dr. Hell.
• Eye Beams: "Koushiryoku Beeeeeeeeeam!"
• Eye Scream: In the Mazinger vs Great General of Darkness, Kouji shot Mazinger's drilling missiles right in the eye of a Mykene Warrior Beast. So the tiny missiles drilled through its eye and exploded inside its head. Ouch. And in another episode, Sayaka blew up with her Aphrodite-A Breast Missiles the only weak points of the Mechanical Beast Gumbina M5... its eyes. Double ouch.
• Excited Episode Title: All of them, but the most memorable has to be Kouji Kabuto Dies In Lava! Guess what DOESN'T happen in that episode.
• Expository Theme Tune: "An iron castle rises in the sky. It is the Super Robot Mazinger-Z."
• Face Ship: There was a beastly face built on the frontside of Guru. On the top of Bood there was a head built in.
• Falling Into the Cockpit: Kouji knew absolutely nothing about piloting a giant robot -or any manner of robot, really- and in the first few episodes it shows. Mazinger went on a rampage the first time he activated it because he kept punching random buttons, and he got beaten in his first battles. Sayaka and her father did their best to teach him quickly, but until then he only survived due to Mazinger's impressive weaponry and sturdy body armor... and Kouji soon revealed he was a quick-thinker that could come up with new strategies on the fly.
• Female Gaze: Kouji Kabuto. In the anime he was shown half-naked more often than Sayaka. And in the manga he visited a hot springs resort, and stripped himself once for not reason at all. Duke Fleed from UFO Robo Grendizer also "suffered" from it. An example was when Kouji went to Duke's room late in the night to discuss a matter was worrying him, and both of them were naked up waist during the conversation.
• FemBot: Aphrodite A, Diana A, Minerva X. Mazinkaiser ditched the latter two and gave Sayaka her own version of Great Mazinger's FemBot, Venus A.
• Final Battle: It varies depending on if we are discussing the Go Nagai manga, the anime series or the Gosaku Ota manga, but it had two battles at the end of the series. At the final of the anime series, the main characters located Dr. Hell's Supervillain Lair at last. Quickly they began to make preparations for the final battle, but Hell used a last scheme to hinder them as he completed his own preparations. Mazinger-Z, Venus A and Boss Borot stormed Hell's Island, supported by the Japanese army, but Dr. Hell sent against them his last Mechanical Beasts. The three Humongous Mecha got severely trashed, but Mazinger-Z could still work. Kouji stormed the base, destroying and blowing up all what he saw. Hell set his Lair to self-destruct and he and Brocken tried to flee on the aerial fortress Guru. However, Mazinger-Z chased them and they faced off for last time on an aerial battle over the ocean. It was subverted, though, since all of it happened in the second-to-last episode, and the narration -and the scenes involving a smug Gorgon- warned the last episode would be NOT a happy day. The events were very different on the Go Nagai manga (Hell attacked first, deploying several dozens of Mechanical Beasts at once to invade Japan. Ashura and Brocken coordinated their squads in the assault, and the Japanese army used Mass-Production Mazingers against Hell. Finally, Kouji and Sayaka fought alone against the Island of Hell, what had transformed into a humongous Humongous Mecha). The Gosaku Ota episodes are similar to the anime, but Gorgon makes his move while Kouji is storming the base. He goads his Warrior Monsters against Mazinger-Z and backstabs Hell when he is distracted before leaving the base. Enraged and dying, Hell pulls a lever. Hell's Island takes off and flies towards the Institute to crash on it. However, Great Mazinger arrives, defeats the Mykene Beasts, fetches a defeated Mazinger-Z and runs away with it. Meanwhile, the battle has altered the course of the island, and it floats upwards, leaving the atmosphere and losing itself in the space...
• Finishing Move: A bit of a subversion. Breast Fire and Rust Hurricane would be Mazinger-Z Finishing Moves. However, Kouji used whatever weapon he saw fit to end up the battle. In the original manga, Kouji mainly used Mazinger-Z's fists and kicks to beat the enemy and then he finished it off with whatever weapon.
• Five-Bad Band:
  • The Big Bad: Dr. Hell, although he also has traits of Evil Genius.
  • The Lancer: Baron Ashura.
  • The Evil Genius: Archduke Gorgon. On the surface he would seem The Brute, but in reality he was a manipulative, conniving, scheming, Magnificent Bastard prefered using his intelligence before his -considerable- physical strength- and provided The Big Bad with increasingly powerful weapons.
  • The Brute: Count Brocken. Although he is not so physically powerful like Gorgon, he commanded his own corps and would often rather using strength instead of cunning. He is an ex-Nazi officer, so he definitely liked getting his hands dirty.
  • The Dark Chick: Viscount Pygman. He was not a girl but he definitely stood out and he definitely was considered a freak. His skills, abilities and powers were also very different of his colleagues' ones.
• Flat What: In a chapter of Shin Mazinger Zero, Kouji and Minerva-X are together inside the cockpit. During the battle Minerva lands on Kouji on a very awkward and embarassing position. Sayaka -who has just arrived and destroyed three Mechanical beasts in a fit of jealous rage- sees him, and they -after displayin a tremendously comical Oh Crap stares- try to explain it is not what it seems, and Minerva is not human but she actually is a Super Robo created by The Professor Dr. Kabuto to be Mazinger-Z's partner. Sayaka's reaction?

Sayaka: What.

• Flying Brick: Mazinger Z after its Mid-Season Upgrade, but also several Kikaiju. one of the worst offenders was Jinray S1 (It flew at Match-5 speed when Mazinger could not fly yet, it threw bolts of lightning, and shot missiles)
• Follow the Leader: Super Robot Genre shows like Tetsujin 28 already had their own success, but it was Mazinger Z that solidified the concept of piloting a robot (via a cockpit within its head, rather than remote control) and started a revolutionary trend that attracted toy makers and captivated children. Such influence would eventually lead to all sorts of landmark works that keep the said genre alive and relevant to this day.
• Forgotten Phlebotinum: It was played straight often. Many times Dr. Hell came up with a Mechanical Beast equiped with a weapon put Kouji or Mazinger-Z in a serious disadvantage: Gromazen R9 shot an acid could melt Aphrodite A's armor (that was made of Japanium, although it was less tough than Mazinger Z's), Kingdan X10 projected mirages, Holzon V3 set eathquakes off, Jinray S1 flew at Match 5, Aeros B2 could absorb Mazinger's attacks and hurling them back, Desma A1 caused hallucinations, Gumbina M5 was nearly invulnerable... and they were not used again. However, sometimes Dr. Hell reused and improved some strategies or weapons, or deceived the enemy in believing he was using the same trick.
• Forgotten Superweapon: In episode 10 Mazinger-Z shot missiles from its fingers. That weapon never showed up again. It is somewhat subverted, though, since it was not so useful and Mazinger-Z had better and more powerful weapons, so it is likelier than the animators realized it was silly placing missiles in the fingers of a Rocket Punch, and they chose to forget about it and replace them with weapons were not Awesome but Impractical.
• Freeze Ray: one of the weapons of Mazinger Z: its helmet's horns shoot freezing beams tat turn the enemy into a chunk of frozen, brittle ice. It is called REITOU BEAM!!!
• Freudian Excuse: Dr. Hell was an a unwanted child -a fact his mother took great pains to remind him of constantly-. When he was a school student, he was constantly belittled by professors (who believed it was impossible he got those marks without cheating) and beaten by his schoolmates. When he was in college, he took pride on his grades... and then a foreign student (Juzo Kabuto, Kouji's Grandfather) surpassed him easily before wooing the woman he was in love with. After saving a little girl and being beaten up by her father (since he falsely believed he was molesting her), he declared he was sick of it all and one day everybody would kneel to him. And then Nazism happened and he... got tips.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Dr. Hell started like an unwanted son born in a pauper, ordinary family was -psychologically and physically- abused by his mother, berated by his teachers and bullied by his classmates. Forty years later he was designing Doomsday Devices by Hitler and experimenting with human beings in Austchwitz. Thirty years later he was trying to Take Over the World and enslaving the humankind with an army of Humongous Mecha.
• Genre Savvy: Prof. Yumi was pretty Genre Savvy. For example, he made sure they got spare parts for Mazinger-Z ready to be used in case of an emergency (during one battle Mazinger had lost his fists and they launched spare Rocket Punches at its location to help Kouji). In one episode he hesitated several persons were dead why their corpses were not found. And he memorized the plans for the Jet Scrander in case of they were stolen (and indeed, they were).
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Subverted. Sometimes Kouji slapped Sayaka to try to calm her down or get her out of a Heroic BSOD (it happened as soon as episode 7). However, given that he is infamously tactless, it did not work. The only thing it accomplished was getting her mad -or madder-.
• Giant Equals Invincible: For the most part it is played straight. In the first episode Garada K7 and Doublas M2 are trashing a city. Bullets, missiles, tanks, jets are thrown in their way... and they not even put a dent in their armor plates. It is not until Mazinger shows up they are trashed in turn. However, FemBots are not invincible -even if they were crushed by other giant robots- and sometimes Aphrodite A was overwhelmed and briefly deterred by an army of Iron Masks using conventional weapons.
• Giant Robot Hands Save Lives: Several examples. A particularly awesome instance happened in the episode 28 when Mazinger Z saved Professor Yumi with a Rocket Punch when he was falling down a cliff. In the Ota equivalent manga chapter, he was faling from a flying fortress and Aphrodite A was the one caught him.
• Give Me a Sword: In Mazinger-Z vs Great General of Darkness, Kouji has been defeated by the Mykene War Beasts, his Humongous Mecha is utterly trashed, it barely functions, and its weapons are useless. Then Tetsuya shows up piloting Great Mazinger, and as he begins to deliver a sound beating, he throws one of his swords at Mazinger-Z saying "You can use this" (and conveniently and intentionally impaling a Warbeast). Kouji catches the sword, and even though his Humongous Mecha is barely capable to move, he still manage to destroy one of the Mykene War Beasts, and he impales the Mykene commander was leading the squad. The sword was returned to Great Mazinger afterwards, along a heartfelt "Thank you".
• Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Kouji loves doing this.
• A Glass of Chianti: Dr. Hell and his lackeys are sometimes seen drinking fine wine.
  • Can't Hold His Liquor: ... However, Dr. Hell gets tipsy easily.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: When the eyes of Mazinger Z glowed, you knew you had to run for cover. Often it happened when Kouji was really, REALLY fired up or even panicked or in danger, and somehow his state of mood affected his mecha (which suggests Mazinger was sentient, a point plot later versions have explored). A memorable example happened in Shin Mazinger Zero. Mazinger was chained by a Robeast and unable to get free as another Mechanical Beast was disintegrating Sayaka's Humongous Mecha. Then Kouji got REAL MAD, and Mazinger's eyes glowed right before he shattered the chains binding it and delivered a Curb Stomp Battle to both Robeasts.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Mazinger-Z's Mid-Season Upgrade was a Jet Pack equipped with red, metallic -and razor- wings. Many flying Mechanical Beasts were also equipped with all sort of wings: bat wings (Deimos F3, Deviler X1), bird wings (Harpy X7), manta ray wings...
• Gratuitous English: The Toei dub has theme songs sung entirely in English by famed anime singer Isao Sasaki.
  • Though not nearly as gratuitous as the version Ichiro Mizuki did, which was pretty much nonsensical.
• Green Aesop: Several times we were given messages about the dangers of depleting the planet's natural resources and polluting the enviroment. They were not subtle. AT ALL.
  • A show of it was a Crossover featuring characters of Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, UFO Robo Grendizer and Getter Robo. In that movie, the most famous Go Nagai Humongous Mecha battled an ugly, massive prehistoric animal had survived in the depths of the oceans and had been mutated after feeding with huge quantities of oil spills:
• Gonk: Boss.
• Gundamjack: After a fashion. Minerva X was designed by Professor Kabuto, but never actually built; Dr. Hell got his hands on the plans and constructed Minerva, using mundane armor materials instead of Super Alloy Z, and installing an AI "crown" piece in place of a Pilder.
  • And in the "The Relic of Evil" one-shot, Mazinger-Z itself was hijacked by a Kedora sent by Dr. Hell.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: In the Dynamic Heroes e-manga, Kouji Kabuto fought Great Marshall Of Hell as riding Mazinger. It is noteworthy as it was, maybe, the first time in the history of the franchise Kouji and Dr. Hell faced each other directly as both were riding giant robots. Too bad it was a Curb Stomp Battle.
• The Hero: Kouji Kabuto, obviously.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Subversion. In spite of swords are common Humongous Mecha weapons, Kouji never used one (unless you count the Iron Cutter weapon he got in the last seasons). His sucessor, Tetsuya, was the one introduced the trope in Super Robot Genre.
  • Amusingly, some later versions from Mazinger-Z (New Mazinger, Mazin Saga)use swords.
• Heroic BSOD: Sayaka, after Aphrodite A is destroyed. She even almost drowns herself in a lake when she thinks she's hearing Aphrodite calling out to her from there.
  • She had another way earlier, in episode 7. A mob -enraged at having their hometown leveld by two battling Humongous Mecha- threw stones to her father, landing him in the hospital, and almost broke in the Institute. She was so upset and distraught she considered stopping to fight.
  • And in the original manga, Kouji has another in an early chapter after being forced to kill an Iron Mask. He remained kneeled and shaking.
• Heroic Sacrifice: ... Just one too many. Specially in the Mazinkaiser movie. Subverted by Boss at an early stage - self-destructs the Boss Borot, but shows up a short while later asking "Why do I have to die for you, Kouji!?"
  • And in episode 74 Sayaka sacrifices Aphrodita-A to save Kouji.
• Honey He's Like In A Coma: Sayaka kissing a comatose Koji at some point.
• Hot Springs Episode: In chapter 8 of the original manga, Kouji and his friends spending a while on a hot springs resort in a mountain. That episode was noteworthy because Mazinger-Z did not show up and it had a very funny Kouji/Sayaka moment in the hot springs (with a double Luminescent Blush included).
• High-Class Glass: Count Brocken.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Dr. Hell designed a Mechanical Beast (Spartan K5) resembled a gladiator but it was a pacifist refused attacking unless provoked. Baron Ashura decided testing it against Mazinger Z, but Kouji actually befriended it. Enraged, Ashura ordered several Iron Masks putting a time bomb on Spartan K5 to blowing it up. Later, Spartan was accidentally goaded into attacking Mazinger Z and UTTERLY BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF IT. It was about of delivering the final blow when the bomb went off. Kouji and his friends felt sad. Hell and Ashura threw a fit.
  • In episode 27, Ashura captures Aphrodite A and scans it in order to learn how building a photong engine. He hands over the records to an Iron Mask and commands him go and hand them out to Dr. Hell. Though, a Kikaiju -that had been deployed by Ashura to delay Mazinger Z- is returning to base right on that moment, and steps on the Iron Mask, killing him and ruining the records.
• Home Base: The Photon Atomic Research Institute was the heroes's base where they kept the Humongous Mecha and all tools they needed to repair them and upgrade them. Originally it was a civilian use building -a laboratory researched the newly discovered Photon Atomic energy-, but Dr. Hell pretty much forced them to make some modifications (such like installing a Beehive Barrier). Over the half of the series, The Hero and his little brother moved to the Institute, making the example even more literal. Big Bad Dr. Hell had two Supervillain Lair: Bardos Island And Hell Island. Both of them counted like Elaborate Underground Base, Island Base and Mad Scientist Laboratory.
  • Island Base: Like noted above, Dr. Hell had two Island Bases: Bardos, an ancient Greek island full of underground mazes and labyrinths where he found an army of Humongous Mecha: and Hell Island, an island near from the Japanese coast where he moved later in the series. It was a barren, rocky islet. A low mountain rose in the center, and several giant faces had been carved on its slopes. Baron Ashura's submarine fortress Salude doubled like Island Base and Cool Ship.
• Hot-Blooded: Koji is the posterboy for this.
  • The Dynamic Heroes e-manga featured Kouji, Sayaka, Tetsuya, Jun, Duke, Hikaru, Maria, Ryoma, Hayato, Benkei, Akira Fudo and Honey Kisaragi. There was enough hot blood in that crossover to fill an ocean.
• Hotblooded Sideburns: But of course!
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Inverted in New Mazinger. Major Kabuto is human-sized. Princess Krishna is Mazinger-sized (around eighteen-meters tall). He -understandably- complains she is the most beautiful woman he has found, but they are the wrong size.

I-P

• Ignored Expert: Subverted by Dr. Kabuto. Despite he was a renowned scientist and a witness, he did not try to warn the world of what had happened in Bardos Island (to wit: one of his colleagues had murdered the entire archaeological expedition minus Kabuto after finding an army of ancient Humongous Mecha buried in the underground mazes of the island) and what Dr. Hell was planning (to wit: Take Over the World), opting for shutting himself away to build his super-weapon. Of course, he could have reasonably thought he would become this trope, and decided not wasting his time.
• I'm a Humanitarian: The Chip Kamoy in the Gosaku Ota Manga. They were a species of giant, fish-like, maneater humanoids from another dimension that raised herds of humans like cattle. However they had depleted their homeworld's natural resources and were running out of food, so they crossed over to our dimension to find more preys. It can be interesting mentioning one of them declared "humans taste better when they are skinned".
• Idiot Hero: ... And for this, too.
  • If we're seeing how he actualy fights, both in anime and the manga, Koji is FAR from being a Idiot Hero instead more of a Genius Bruiser. He purposefuly gives up only to attack his enemy with the Pilder AND saves the day, and in other moments, he grabbed one of his enemy, and throw it to the other when they attacked resulted in the destruction of said enemy with bare hands. Its a pretty awesome not to mention genius feat on itself. Of course, with Mazinger being such a powerful robot, most of the time his battle consist of direct brute force than planning.
• If It Swims, It Flies: Mazinger-Z got upgraded to be able to swim (in episode 18) and fly (in episode 34). However its mobility and speed gets severely hindered underwater, its weapons do not work properly, so it may count as a subversion.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In the Mazinger Z versus Devilman feature, Mazinger-Z cut Silene's wings off during one aerial battle. She fell towards the ground below and was impaled through her stomach by the sharp branches of a dry tree. Also, one of the Mechanical Beasts, Toros D7, had a huge metallic spike on the front side to ramming the enemy and impaling it.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: One of the Dr. Hell's Mechanical Monsters (Jenova M9) can shoot down anything as far as one hundred kilometres away. Baron Ashura decides trying its aim shooting down a passenger plane.
• In Name Only: Go Nagai's manga and anime series, God Mazinger has aboslutely nothing to do with Mazinger whatsoever. The original concept was intended to be a Mazinger sequel, though.
• Indy Ploy: Kouji is able to think strategically and plotting strategies beforehand. However, given his rash, hotheaded nature, he is VERY prone to impulsively leap into a dangerous situation and figuring out along the way how he will walk out of it alive. These two pages of the "Mazinger Z: Relic of Terror" one-shot are a godd example:

Kouji: There's no choice but for me to go and take it back!
Sayaka: But you don't even know what the enemy is...!
Kouji: I'll find out along the way!

• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Tetsuya had this IN SPADES.
• Interspecies Romance: Kouji and Maria in one of the sequels.
• Inventional Wisdom: In one of the versions of the story there was one lever on Hell Island served to launch the island spacewards and detonate it. Dr. Hell used it to try to take Mazinger Z with him when he realized the battle was lost. It happened in Gosaku Ota's manga version.
• It's All About Me: Dr. Hell wants to rule over the entire world because he got fed up with being insulted, scorned, envied and beaten when he was young, and he wants to purge the world out of idiots and forcing the survivors to kneel before him. Likewise, when he was a college student, he befriended Juzo Kabuto. When he realized the woman he loved was in love with Kenzo, he convinced himself they had pretended being his friends planning to backstab him later. The result was... not pretty.
• It's Personal: Dr. Hell got Kouji's grandfather assassinated (and Rumi, the maid took care of him and his little brother as his grandfather -and father- were away). As revenge is not his only motivation to want crushing Hell, it is definitely an important factor.
• JAM Project (Both openings and endings to the Mazinkaiser OVA and movie, and the movie insert song... and the band's original founder, Ichirou Mizuki, sang the original Mazinger Z opening, too)
• Jet Pack: Mazinger-Z's Mid-Season Upgrade was a Jet Pack with red wings docked with Mazinger-Z. It was yellow with red Razor Wings and could shoot star-shaped shurikens to whoever tried attack Mazinger-Z from back. Its name was Jet Scrander.
• Kangaroo Court: In one episode Baron Ashura had trapped Kouji and decided "judging" him, playing judge, jury and executioner.
• Kick the Dog: Sort of averted. Baron Ashura is not above of pettty acts of cruelty, but usually he does them with a purpose in mind. Still, some of those acts include: hitting children on the head to knock them out, blowing up the wheelchair of a paralytic little girl to prevent her from running away, ordering one of his Iron Masks to kill a little cub whose mother had just got killed...
• Kid Hero: Kouji Kabuto was sixteen when began the series. Sayaka, Boss, Nuke and Mucha were the same age, and Shiro was roughly ten-years-old.
• Last-Episode New Character: An entirely new cast, from both the antagonist and protagonist sides, are introduced in the last episode of the tv show, setting up Great Mazinger.
• Latex Space Suit: The pilot suits for both male and female characters.
• Lava Adds Awesome: Mazinger-Z's Home Base was located on the foot of Mount Fuji. Such a perfect setup was used for animating many battles and squirmishes would have been less cool without the Climactic Volcano Backdrop, the characters brawling around a Lava Pit or soaring above Mount Fuji's crater. In one episode, Dr. Hell attempted to set an eruption off to bury the Photon Research Institute beneath tons of lava. In another episode, Mazinger-Z was tossed into a volcano. In the Gosaku Ota manga episodes, The Dragon Baron Ashura's master plan involved to set volcanic eruptions off throughout Japan...
• Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid: Several times Kouji fought near flowing lava. Since he always was inside his Humongous Mecha it is Hand Waved like Mazinger-Z's armor and insolation protecting him from the extreme heat, at least for a while. Still, in one episode he got dunked INTO a volcano. The characters pointed out, though, not even Mazinger could endure that for long, and they had to get out of the magma RIGHT AWAY or Kouji would die. Nevertheless, usually the lava looks clearer and more liquid than it should be (although it is somewhat more viscous than in other examples).
• Lava Pit: Several Mechanical Beasts were fought beside or over lava pits on the crater of a volcano -usually Mount Fuji-: Aeros B2 and B3, Holzon V3 -in one of the manga versions-, Debira X1... And in one episode, Kouji was dumped in one.
  • And one of the Death Traps in Hell's Island was a Lava Pit.
• The Legions of Hell: The demons of Devilman also showed up in the "Mazinger-Z versus Devilman" Crossover movie.
• Lensman Arms Race: Throughout the series, Mazinger Z has to be constantly upgraded and endowed with new weapons and capabilities in order to battle Dr. Hell, increasingly powerful robots. Of course it drove Hell to create still more powerful Robeast and when Mazinger Z finally could not catch up, it was replaced with an entirely new robot, Great Mazinger.
• Like an Old Married Couple: As Kouji and Sayaka are arguing -and fighting- in the background, Shiro is fortune-telling. He notes the cards tell his brother and Sayaka are destined to be together forever.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: Most of the female characters wore long hair: Sayaka, Misato, Erika, Hitomi, the Gamia sisters... Sayaka even wore Hair Decorations (a pink headband). Of course, it was considered a girl seemed more femenine like that.
• Long Runner: Forty years after the inception of the series, more Mazinger Z-related manga, anime, games and toys are being made.
• Lost Superweapon: Mykene's Mechanical Beasts. Old myths assured an ancient, allegedly lost Greek civilization called Mykene lived on the island of Bardos used metallic giants shot flames from their chests to defend their land. Dr. Hell pondered maybe the myths might be true. Unfortunately for everybody, the old legends were indeed right, and he found an army of ancient, forgotten Humongous Mecha under the ruins of the island. However it is a subversion, since like it was seen in Great Mazinger, the Mykene civilization still existed, and throughout millennia had dramatically improved their technology, and compared with their newest mechas, the giant robots Dr. Hell found were ancient, outdated, mountain sized piles of scrap.
• Lost Technology: The plot is set in motion when Dr. Hell finds an army of giant robots in the underground mazes of the Greek island his archaeological expedition was researching, belonging to the lost Mykene civilization. Instantly he decides seizing that technology to furthering his goals. Too bad to him -and the world- the legitimate owners of that technology were still around...
• Love Dodecahedron: It got real entangled throughout the original series and its sequels. Kouji and Sayaka kept a Belligerent Sexual Tension relationship. Boss chased after Sayaka, but he was a Hopeless Suitor (although some fans think he could have gotten one chance).
  • In the sequel Boss also chased after Jun, who was aboslutely fixated on Tetsuya (and Tetsuya was obsessed with fighting, and he seldom showed he reciprocated).
  • Kouji also found attractive some girls in the series (Hitomi, Erika, Misato...) and Sayaka was very jealous when it happened... including the situation with Minerva-X, a sentient mecha loved Mazinger-Z.
  • In the other sequel, Hikaru is in love with Duke. Duke may reciprocate her feelings. Rubina is in love with him. Duke certainly reciprocates her feelings. And Minister Zuril was in love with Rubina. And Kouji kept a Belligerent Sexual Tension relationship with Maria. Who knows what would have happened if Sayaka and Maria would have met in the original series.
  • In the Dynamic Heroes e-manga they met, and neither of them appreciated when one of them got very close to Kouji.
  • And in CB Chara Go Nagai World Dr. Hell joined the party. He was involved in one with Akira, Miki, Siren, Kaim and Ryo
• Love Makes You Crazy: Dr. Hell can be a subversion because he was already quite unstable and troubled before... but when he was in college and fell in love with a cute Japanese exchange student he started behaving obsessively (getting angry if someone dared to spend time with her) and erratically (his grades started slipping because he was too obsessed to study). And when he found out she was in love with another person, he flipped out completely and tried to Murder the Hypotenuse (and even stormed into the campus with a shotgun!).
  • Boss also tended to act in a very dumb, irrational and even obsessive way when he was in presence of Sayaka or Jun Hono. Sayaka tended to ignore it, but Jun did not appreciated it or found amusing.
• Love Makes You Evil: Dr. Hell fits the trope to the letter. He was psychologically unstable before... but when he fell in love with a cute Japanese student attended his college he became obsessive, jealous (he even fumed if she spent time with someone else) and erratic. When he found she was in love with someone else, his mind finally snapped out completely. He thought everyone was out to get him, and attempted to Murder the Hypotenuse (he stormed into the campus with a shotgun!). That incident (and another more where he tried to help someone and he got the crap beaten out of him for it) were his Start of Darkness. He dedided Humans Are the Real Monsters and he would make everyone pay. People had shunned him out of scorn or indifference before, but from that day they gave him a wide berth out of fear because he already started looking Obviously Evil (and downright creepy).
• Lovely Angels: Sayaka and Jun
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Subverted. In episode 90, a woman showed up in the Institute, claiming being Kouji and Shiro's mother. It is subverted because in reality she was a cyborg, pretending being their real -and very deceased- mother. This trope was nearly played straight when Kenzo Kabuto showed up, but Kouji and Shiro would find out about it until the next series.
• Luminescent Blush: It did not happen in the anime often (since Kouji was supposed to be a Chaste Hero), but it was a fairly normal occurrence in the manga episodes by BOTH Kouji and Sayaka.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Ashura and Brocken's ships and many kikaiju tried that tactic against Mazinger Z. Results varied.
  • And in the short story New Mazinger Mazinger-Z itself used that tactic against an army of monsters.
• Made of Explodium: Many Mechanical Beasts exploded easily -and spectacularly- even if there was no reason for it (other than animating spectacular explosions, of course). Aeros B3 reinforced this trope: it was loaded with explosives since its purpose was diving in Mount Fuji and exploding inside to awaken the volcano and bury the Institute under a tidal wave of lava. A subversion was Balanger M1, that were clusters of submarine, guided mines did NOT exploded but stuck to their target and shocked it with electricity. Several Warrior Monsters and Saucer Beasts from Great Mazinger and UFO Robo Grendizer also followed this trope.
• Made of Indestructium: An early Anime example. Mazinger Z is made with Alloy Z, an alloy made of Japanium, a rare metal can be found only in Japan. Dr. Kabuto discovered the metal and built Mazinger Z with it, thinking Mazinger would become indestructible. Throughout the series, the mecha got hit by giant monsters, missiles, bombs, got burned and electrocuted, got dumped in lava and doused in acid... and even though it got damaged every so often, the Alloy Z endured all of that until the last chapter, and kept Kouji alive. Several times Dr. Hell and his dragons would try and get their hands on a sample of Alloy Z to build his Robeasts with it because Mazinger's armor was too tough to break it, shatter it or dissolve it easily. The concept of chogokin ("Super Alloy") became so pervasive and widespread all Super Robots followed Mazinger were made of chogokin, and it baptised one whole toy line.
• Mad Scientist (Dr. Hell. In some versions, Dr. Juzo Kabuto as well)
  • Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter Mad Scientist's Hot-Blooded Grandson: Kouji, in the continuities where Juzo is crazier.
    • There's another case in Lorelei, Shiro's first love, whose father was a very aloof foreign scientist who's also Covered in Scars. And then we learn that not only she's a Robot Girl, but her father is killed and begs her to have revenge. It ends up in tears.
• Mad Scientist Laboratory: Dr. Hell's lab, installed in his base. It was barely seen in the series, though. Dr. Kabuto's lab in the original manga also counts.
• Make My Monster Grow: In episode 12, Baron Ashura used a size-changing ray to turn a tiny robot into a giant Robeast -Bicong O9-. That ray had been invented by Dr. Hell, who previously tested it with Ashura himself/herself, briefly transforming it into a giant. Throughout the series, Big Bad Dr. Hell used more Mechanical Beasts could grow their size.
• Male Gaze: Often the camera lingered on Sayaka's behind, specially when she wore skirts. It also lingered on women when they were wearing one towel after one shower or changing clothes. Of course, it also happened in the sequels. Given than Mazinger's creator introduced Fanservice in the anime, it was to be expected. But to be fair, there also were plenty instances of Female Gaze in the series, specially in regards to Tetsuya and Kouji getting several Shirtless Scenes.
• The Man Behind the Man: In the original manga, Baron Ashura shows up before Dr. Hell, leading several Mechanical Beasts and the Iron Masks troops and calling it "Ashura's army". In that chapter he seemed like the Big Bad, but one chapter after Dr. Hell is introduced and we learnt Hell was behind the whole operation and he is the real Big Bad.
  • In the anime, Archduke Gorgon was apparently a Dr. Hell's ally. In the last chapters we learnt he was a Dragon with an Agenda was working for a Bigger Bad, Great General of Darkness/Ankoku Daishogun.
• Manly Tears: Kouji has often cried these.
• Meaningful Name: Professor Kabuto describes the titular mecha as being powerful enough to make its pilot a devil - "Ma" in Japanese - or a god - "Zin". This is also the first line in Mazinkaiser's first theme song.
  • Also, "Kabuto" means "helmet" in Japanese, alluding to the way Koji activates Mazinger by landing his Jet Pilder on it's head like, you guessed it, a helmet.
• Mecha Show
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Dr. Kabuto dies in the FIRST episode after handing Mazinger Z over to his elder grandson.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Several of them. Mazinger Z was routinely upgraded to allow it fight on different enviroments successfully or to endow it with new weapons to fight increasingly powerful enemies. The most promintent of those upgrades was the Jet Scrander.
• Milking the Giant Cow: Dr. Hell was prone to make this when he was monologuing, mainly in the original manga and Mazinkaiser. Especially when night had fallen and he was outdoors. Evil Is Hammy, indeed.
• Missing Mom: Kouji and Shiro's mother died in a laboratory experiment went wrong. Likewise, Sayaka's mother is nowhere to be found and she and her father live alone, so it is implied her mother died or left.
  • In episode 90, Dr. Hell fabricated a cyborg looked right like her and sent it to the Institute in order to wreak havoc while he made preparations for the final battle. Naturally, that stratagem caused much grief, especially to Shiro.
  • And in Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen Kouji and Shiro's mother shows up and gets named -Tsubasa Nishikori. And it is revealed Kouji has inherited his Badass traits from HER.
• Mission Control: Kouji and Sayaka were assisted by Prof. Yumi (Sayaka's father, who was the Older and Wiser The Mentor, The Professor and The Lab Rat) and Photonic Research Insitute's Bridge Bunnies, who gave them assistance during missions via communicators.
• Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness: It varies between Science in Genre Only and World of Phlebotinum: The series aims to try and be consistent, but real world physics often are cast away in favor of having fun.
• Monster of the Week: All the time. Several times Dr. Hell sent several monsters instead of one to attack Mazinger-Z simultaneously, though.
  • Mascot Mooks: Garuda K7 and Doublas M2.
    • In the Super Nintendo video game, the first Boss Battle was against Garada K7.
• Mooks: Baron Ashura's Iron Masks and Count Brocken's Iron Crosses.
• Ms. Fanservice (The busty yet brainy twins Lori and Loru, from Great Mazinger and Mazinkaiser. Sayaka also wasn't free of this; just watch the 4th OAV.)
• Multicolored Hair: In New Mazinger Major Kabuto is black-haired, but his hair's central part is red.
• My Friends and Zoidberg: Hilariously inverted every time the villains told a sentence along the lines of "Go ahead! Finish with Mazinger-Z... and the other two robots!". The other two robots being Aphrodite-A (or Diana-A) and Boss Borot.
• My Hero Zero: Awfully subverted in the Shin Mazinger Zero spin-off. Mazinger Zero is what Mazinger-Z may potentially become: an Eldritch Abomination. It happened in the spin-off, after Kouji crossed the Despair Event Horizon. He got in Mazinger-Z and fought like a relentless, raging The Berserker, fueling Mazinger's consciousness with a stream of negative emotions -rage, grief, despair, bitterness, pain-, until Mazinger-Z awoke, turned into a demon. The results were... not pretty.
• Naked People Are Funny: In one manga episode, several characters (Boss being one of them) strip themselves for absolutely no reason. Since Go Nagai introduced and made (in)famous the trope in manga, that gag was entirely expectable.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Dr. Hell. Enough said.
• Eucatastrophe: Often Dr. Hell and his followers were on the brink of winning, and only through of extreme competence and sacrifice of Kouji and his allies or of utter incompetence of Hell's minions, the situation was saved. It happened several times when they very nearly took the Institute over (the most prominent of them happened in episode 57) or invaded it successfully (episode 87), or managed to steal a sample of Alloy Z... However the most notorious of them happened in the last episode when Archduke Gorgon's Robeasts destroyed Mazinger-Z and demolished the Institute. Tetsuya's Big Damn Heroes moment saved Kouji's life, but the villains finally were victorious against Mazinger. That story was greatly expanded in the Mazinger vs Great General of Darkness movie.
• Never Recycle Your Schemes: Played straight most of the time but sometimes averted by Dr. Hell. Seeing Forgotten Phlebotinum example above.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The show used extreme hyperbole in its next-episode previews, and was not above outright lying to the audience to hype up an episode. The most famous example is an episode called "Koji Kabuto Dies in Lava!"
  • This one is so infamous it was endlessly mocked and parodied, culminating in one of the Mazinkaizer stage in Super Robot Wars J being called "Kouji Kabuto Dies in Lava!?"
• Nigh Invulnerability: Mazinger-Z was not SO indestructible like Mazinkaiser. Still, he was sturdy enough to whitstand a nuclear blast at point-blank range. However, it ultimately subverted the trope: Dr. Hell crafted increasingly more powerful Mechanical Beasts were capable to seriously harm Mazinger, and finally the Mykene War Beasts destroyed Mazinger-Z.
• Nintendo Hard: The SNES game. One single life. Very sparse recovery items. No 1-Ups. No continues. No password system. No save system. If you die, you have to start again from the beginning. Get fun.
• No Endor Holocaust: Averted. The show has no troubles showing how much death and destruction would cause a humongous war mecha rampaging through the land or a battle between giant robots in a highly-populated city, and often Kouji has to suffer the consequences of it.
• No Indoor Voice (Seems to be a pre-requisite of any Hot-Blooded, and Kouji isn't the exception)
• Not Hyperbole: In the first episode, Dr. Kabuto tells Kouji who pilots Mazinger-Z has the potential to become a god or a devil. Such like later retellings and versions of the history (especially Z-Mazinger or Shin Mazinger Zero) have proved, Dr. Kabuto was *NOT* exaggerating.
• Not Drawn to Scale: The applied scale is not consistent at all. There are plenty examples of it: In episode 10, Dian N4 grabbed skyscrappers and moved them to elsewhere with one of his hands, and they seemed so big like the buildings they were carrying. Later, though, he was just so tall like Mazinger-Z (18 meters).
• Nothing Can Stop Us Now: Baron Ashura tends to utters that sentence in two types of situation: when Big Bad Dr. Hell is showing another of his Robeasts to him/her/it (cue Mazinger Z obliterating the Mechanical Beast twenty minutes later); or when one of his/her/its schemes succeeds or is about of succeeding. Examples of the second use are when a Mechanical Beast has utterly trashed Mazinger Z, when he managed to steal a sample of Alloy Z...
  • On the other hand, Great Marshall of Hell from Great Mazinger was more careful about using it. Seemingly he learnt his lesson since he was a resurrected Dr. Hell
• Not So Different: Both the original series and its sequel use this trope: In Mazinger Z, both Dr. Hell and Juzo Kabuto are geniuses (and the original manga, both of them are Mad Scientists with different views on the humanity and on what their talents should be used for); in Great Mazinger, Tetsuya Tsurugi and Ankoku Daishogun, both are honorable and powerful warriors think of each other as a Worthy Opponent and share several characteristics with each other, which explains their mutual respect.
• Nuclear Weapons Taboo: Curiously, it was averted. In the episode 36 it was clearly stated Dr. Hell was fabricating nukes, and a nuclear missile was detonated, even.
• Oh Crap: It is used many times. A memorable one happened when Baron Ashura was relaxing in his/her submarine fortress, feeling safe due to the knowledge of Mazinger-Z could not reach them underwater because it had not been built to swim or dive... when an Iron Mask showed him through one screen Mazinger-Z was swimming towards them.
  • And in other episode, Ashura kidnapped Aphrodite A and examined it to learn how building a Photon engine. Later, when Mazinger Z broke into his/her base, a short-circuit burnt the computer they were using, destroying what information they had obtained. Ashura's expression was priceless (one of his/her Mooks got to drag him/her away because he kept staring and gaping at the ruined computer).
  • A considerably more tragic happens when Prof. Yumi and Prof. Gordon are arguing about a Mechanical Beast is sinking ships... and then Prof. Gordon realizes his wife and their daughter are traveling to Japan by sea.
• Obviously Evil: During his time overseeing a research team, despite his blue skin and "somewhat telling name", the scientists didn't seem to suspect Dr. Hell might just be evil.
• Older Than They Think: Mazinger Z often faltered in international releases due to people accusing it of ripping off shows it inspired, such as Voltron and even it's own spinoff/sequel UFO Robo Grendizer.
• One-Letter Name: Fanon often refers to Mazinger Z as simply "Z" for the sake of time. Great Mazinger's name is reduced to simply "Great". Oddly, Getter Robo G is usually called "Getter G" instead of just "G".
• Only Sane Man: Prof. Yumi, Boss and Shiro alternated that role in different episodes.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Dr. Hell. He could make nearly anything he could imagine, and he dominated multiple fields of science. On the other hand, Dr. Kabuto and his son Kenzo and Professor Yumi subverted the trope, being experts on one specific field and needing help and experts' advice in other matters, and using the trial-and-error method to make scientific breakthroughs.
• One-Man Army: It is both played straight and subverted. Mazinger is certainly powerful enough to trash an entire army... but when Kouji has to fight more than two Robeasts at once, he struggles (Mazinger versus Devilman) or loses (Mazinger versus Great General of Darkness, Mazinkaiser...)
• OOC Is Serious Business: Tetsuya Tsurugi is serious, grim-looking and moody, and he seldom smiles. So when he grins, everyone freaks out and dons Oh Crap stares. Mainly Warrior Monsters, since it usually means they are about of dying horribly and painfully.
• Our Dragons Are Different: One of the Kikaiju (Dragon Omega1) resembles a robotical dragon.
• Our Giants Are Bigger: In New Mazinger (an one-shot alternate story published in The Eighties), an explosion transports Kouji Kabuto to an alternate dimension inhabited by giant beings. The human beings were sixty-foot-tall and just so big as Mazinger-Z (in fact, when Kouji saved one princess, she though Mazinger-Z was an armored knight, and she asked him removing his helmet to see his face). They were mostly good-natured and intelligent, although their technology was at a Middle Ages level, and they were in war against a race of monsters.
• Our Hero Is Dead: The "Kabuto Kouji Dies In Lava!" episodes (yes, they did this twice, though the second time was done with tongue firmly planted in cheek) are so infamous for this that they border on Memetic Mutation.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Sigh. Dr. Hell. If you are making a cyborg looks right like Prof. Yumi, then why do you color his nails black when you know Yumi's nails are not black? Did you think nobody would ever notice? Bad luck, because Sayaka did. At least you didn't make that mistake again when you made cyborg looked right like Kouji Kabuto or his mother.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: Sayaka took no kindly when she was spied in the anime series. One example happened in the the Mazinger vs Great General of Darkness movie, when Kouji walked into her when she was having a shower, and she slapped him.
  • Subverted in the original manga. Kouji and Sayaka saw each other naked accidentally... and they just apologized each other calmly (blushing the whole time). It was especially funny because it was Sayaka the one walked into Kouji.
• Pietà Plagiarism: Several times in the manga and in the anime series Kouji held Sayaka -or vice versa- in that position, usually when one of them lay unconscious on the ground. Actually the cover of one of the volumes features a grim-looking Kouji holding a fainted Sayaka.
• Powers in the First Episode: In the first episode Kouji finds a Humongous Mecha in his grandfather's underground lab and is told it will be his power from that day on, and he can become a god or a devil with it.
• Pre-Explosion Glow: When Mazinger hits an enemy with its Photon Beams, the Mechanical Beast uses to glow before exploding (although sometimes it disintegrates).
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Mykene. Many of them were warriors highly proud of their skills and eager for testing them, and their Robeasts were made by grafting into the body of a Humongous Mecha the brain of a soldier indoctrinated to fight and exterminate all non-Mykene civilizations.
• Power Armor: In New Mazinger (one of the alternate manga continuities) the characters (including Kouji Kabuto) wore power armor.
• Power Crystal
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Several things were toned down in the anime of Mazinger Z. In the original story, Dr. Kabuto was pretty much another Mad Scientist with his face scarred who had never met Dr. Hell. In the anime, he was a well-meaning, nice old man who shared a backstory with Hell and built Mazinger Z for defending the world (apparently this was later retconned into manga continuity, since in the Great Mazinger manga Kouji claimed Dr. Hell had killed his grandfather). However, Kouji was nicer and less exist -albeit a bigger pervert- in the manga, and Sayaka was a Type B Tsundere instead of a Type A, and their fights were worst in the anime. Many manga characters (such like Inspector Ankokuji, the twin sisters Loru and Lori or the Gamia assassin androids) and storylines never showed up in the anime, or their story was altered (such like Lorelei's story). Likewise, the anime came up with new characters (such like Professor Gordon and his daughter that modified Mazinger Z to be able to swim, or Viscount Pygman and Archduke Gorgon) developed some situations (such like Mazinger getting its Mid-Season Upgrade and other minor upgrades, or the birth of Boss Borot) and characters (such like the other scientists of the Institute, or Kouji and Sayaka's families) in a greater depth than the manga. On the whole it can be told it was an Adaptation Distillation.
• The Professor (Sayaka's father, Dr. Gennosuke Yumi. Also the trio composed of Sewashi, Nozori and Morimori. Dr. Kabuto is sometimes this, overlaping with Mad Scientist in the manga and Mazinkaiser.)
• Psycho Supporter: Both Ashura and Brocken.
• Pyrrhic Victory: After a long and hard battle, Kouji defeated Dr. Hell with Mazinger Z. However, the Mycene immediately attacks without giving any time to rest and he is unable to do anything to stop them. He's saved by Tetsuya and his Great Mazinger, who claims that Mazinger Z isn't needed anymore.
• Put on a Bus: All Mazinger Z characters were Put on a Bus in the end of the series, except for Shiro, Boss and his gang -Nuke and Mucha-, that were secondary characters in the sequel.
  • The Bus Came Back - Back for the Finale: Several of them -Kouji, Sayaka and Prof. Yumi- returned for the Grand Finale of Great Mazinger.

Q-Z

• Ramming Always Works: A Kouji's favored tactic when he is battling flying fortress is ramming through them, destroying and blowing up so much as he is able before using one of Mazinger's stronger attacks to shoot the airship off the sky.
• Razor Wings (Mazinger Z has the Scramble Cutter, an attack in which he uses his Jet Scrambler's wings to slice into the enemy.)
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In the Ota's manga, Count Brocken delivers an EPIC one to Dr. Hell. During the final battle Hell ordered Count Brocken go and battle Mazinger... in spite of Brocken was a normal-sized human and he had no weapons to take down a Humongous Mecha! Brocken reluctantly agrees... but before leaving he tells EXACTLY what he thinks of Hell, calling him out on all his failures and flaws, blaming him for their defeats, bitterly stating he does not care his troops risk their lives everyday, and making very clear he served Hell out of gratitude -for saving his life- but he never wanted working for such an inept. Then he announces if he survives he will return to Germany before leaving to fight as Hell threw a fit. It was a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Brocken.
• Refuge in Audacity: You are bound to find this trope in a Go Nagai manga, but one example stands out: Aphrodite A (and Diana A). Torpedo Tits. Enough said.
  • And Great Mazinger's navel missile that is shot from a hatch on its groin...
  • And Baron Ashura taking a shower...
• Restraining Bolt: Mazinger-Z's Restraining Bolt is its pilot. It was implied in the original series and outright shown in Shin Mazinger Zero Mazinger Z has a Restraining Bolt: its pilot. If Mazinger lacks from a pilot controls and restrains its power, it can became a demon destroys the world. Mazinkaiser showed if the Humongous Mecha is not controlled, it simply goes berserker and destroys all it meets. Shin Mazinger Zero elaborated further on this, showing that if it is not piloted or it is piloted by someone is dominated by negative emotions (sadness, hurt, fury, hatred, helplessness...), Mazinger-Z evolves into an Eldritch Abomination and destroys the world.
• Robeast: Dr. Hell's Kikaiju (Mechanical Beasts) and Mykene's Warrior Beasts.
• Rocket Punch: Trope Namer and Trope Maker. "Roketto Paaaanchi!". Anytime anyone says PANCHIE instead of Punch, it's a tribute to Mazinger Z...and inexplicably makes said attack more powerful.
  • Power Fist: Mazinger-Z not only sported a Rocket Punch, but in one episode extendable cutters were added to the forearms (the Iron Cutter). And in another episode, its fists got reinforced to make them sturdier.
  • Hand Blast: In one of the first episodes, Mazinger-Z shot missiles from its fingertips. This weapon was quickly ignored for obvious reasons.
• Rousseau Was Right: The "Theme of Z" seems to think so. Kouji and his friends meet many people behave like jerks but deep down are not bad people, and even Big Bad Dr. Hell's reasons for being a Complete Monster are he was The Woobie when he was young. However, this series somehow manages mixing this trope with Humans Are the Real Monsters.
• Sacrificial Lamb: "MORIMORI-HAKASEEEEEEEEE!!!!"
• Sadistic Choice: It happened many times. Often Baron Ashura held someone hostage and threatened with to kill him or her if Kouji did not surrender, but there were different instances:
  • In episode 17, Dr. Hell crafted a Mechanical Beast could set earthquakes off. After using it to bring down several Japanese cities, Baron Ashura threatened with obliterating Tokyo unless Dr. Hell was appointed director of Photonic Research Institute. If the heroes gave in, Dr. Hell would have full and unopposed access and control to the lodes the Japanium was extracted from and plans to build his own Photon Atomic engines, and nobody would be able to stop him from taking over the world. If they did not agree, Tokyo would become a giant hole in the ground.
  • In episode 18, a Mechanical Monster cuts a passenger ship in half. A woman reaches a lifeboat but her mother has been caught in one of the whirlpools formed by the sinking ship. If she stays away, her mother will die. If she comes closer, maybe both of them will die. At the end her mother chose for her. She shoved the boat away her. She drowned, but she managed to save her daughter's life.
  • In episode 31, Dr. Hell kidnapped three men, hypnotized them in piloting three of his Mechanical Beasts and ordered them to attack Mazinger-Z. Thus, Kouji found himself severely limited, since if he attacked full-force, the prisoners could die.
  • In episode 61, Lorelei, a little girl his little brother was infatuated with, fused with a Robeast and challenged Mazinger-Z. She could not be split from the robot, and if Kouji fought, he would kill her and would break his brother's heart. Finally Kouji had to fight, and Lorelei died.
• Say My Name: "NO! KOUJIIIIIII!!!" "Sayaka... SAYAKA!!!!!!!!!" Kouji and Sayaka often yelled each other's name when one of them was in danger... or when they were pissed off at each other... which happened often since they were the prototype of couple formed by an Idiot Hero and a Tsundere.
• Scooby-Doo Hoax: In one anime episode, the heroes got reports of a huge, aquatic monster living on a chain of lakes near from Mount Fuji. When Kouji went to investigate to the site, a witch appeared all of sudden and warned him the lake monster would curse him if he did not leave. That woman had been scaring away whoever came to investigate the monster sightings. It did not take long for Kouji to discover that witch was Baron Ashura in disguise and the monster was a Mechanical Beast (Granada E3). Baron Ashura was using the curse hoax to hide their activities (mining the lakebed for uranium to fabricate nuclear bombs).
  • In one manga chapter, Kouji and his friends go to a hot springs resort. However, the area is apparently being haunted by ghosts. Boss is terrified but Kouji does not believe one word of it, so he and Sayaka set to investigate what is happening. Quickly they discover the ghosts in reality are androids commanded by Count Brocken, one of the Co-Dragons of Dr. Hell.
• Seventies Hair: Well, obviously. Kouji and Dr. Hell are prime examples of this.
• Shirtless Scene: Kouji Kabuto pulled this sometimes, specially late in the series (the episode where Erika showed up comes to mind). Dr. Hell also pulled this at the end of Mazinkaiser for seemingly no reason, and despite being a very old man.
• Shonen Upgrade: Late in the series, Kouji Kabuto learnt to combine his Humongous Mecha Rocket Punch with Everything Is Better With Spinning to create Big Swing Rocket Punch (essentially, Kouji spins Mazinger's arms at full speed before shooting its fists). It counts like this trope and not like a Mid-Season Upgrade because it was not a new weapon installed into the mecha, but a new move invented by Kouji drastically increased his power (It was several times stronger than a normal Rocket Punch).
• Show Some Leg: The 4th Mazinkaiser OAV, as mentioned.
• Sibling Team: Kouji and his adoptive brother, Tetsuya. When they are actually fighting their enemy instead of each other, they are virtually unstoppable.
• Sinister Scythe: Several Mechanical Beasts were armed with scythes: Garada K7 (two scythe blade were mounted on its skull and they could be used like boomerangs or like weapons in hand-to-hand combat), Brutus M3 (one sctyhe replaced its right arm), Karma K5 (he was armed with a more normal-looking)...
• Sizeshifter: Several Mechanical Beasts had the ability to changing size. The first of them -Bicong O9- showed up as soon as episode 12.
• Slap Slap Kiss: Koji and Sayaka. Sometimes literally.
• Slasher Smile: Dr. Hell did not often smile, but when he did... His enormous Glasgow smile was deeply disturbing.
• Sliding Scale of Anime Obscurity
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Even though they have plenty instances of dark, cynical moments, Mazinger Z and its sequels fall firmly into the idealistic side. When push came to shove, it was through courage, guts, faith and The Power of Friendship the heroes and heroines managed to prevail.
• Speech-Impaired Animal: Bakarasu was a raven ("Bakarasu" roughly means "Dumb crow") Boss and his gang used as a lookout or a messenger. In return, Bakarasu mocked Boss, annoyed him and drove him mad. Bakarasu strangely could talk -and laugh, usually at Boss-, and theoretically it worked alongside Boss, Nuke and Mucha, but in reality it did whatever it pleased. It only had one appearance in Mazinger Z (episode 69), but he showed up in several Great Mazinger episodes.
• Spell My Name with an "S" (Notable for managing to largely avoid this, outside the twin blonde research assistants. Rori, Loli, Lori, Roli? Roru, Lolu, Rolu, Loru, or possibly Roll? Nobody knows for sure.)
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Shiro and Lorelei. Lorelei was a Robot Girl built by a scientist wanted to prove he was better than Dr. Kabuto, builder of Mazinger-Z. He built an Humongous Mecha -Rhine X1-, and a Robot Girl -Lorelei- was meant to fuse with it to make it work. When her father got a fatal wound, he confessed the truth to her and pleaded her to defeat Mazinger. Determined to fullfil her father's last will, she merged with Rhine and challenged Mazinger to a death match. Kouji was forced to fight and kill her. Shiro was devastated after that.
  • Minerva-X and Mazinger-Z itself also are an example. Minerva-X was a FemBot designed by Dr. Kabuto especifically to be Mazinger-Z's Battle Couple. Unlike Mazinger, though, she was a robot capable to think and feel emotions like an human being, and she was in love with Mazinger-Z. However, Dr. Kabuto never got around to build it. Unfortunately, Dr. Hell got his hands on the plans and built her to destroy Mazinger-Z. However, Minerva-X got rid from his control and refused fighting Mazinger-Z, so he decided to destroy her. Their condition of Star-Crossed Lovers not only comes from this but also it comes from Mazinger-Z IS a machine and it can not reciprocate her feelings.
• The Starscream: Two Dr. Hell's servants fit the trope: Viscount Pygman and Archduke Gorgon. The former disobeyed orders the whole time and finally betrayed his creator, taking over the Institute on his own and refusing handed over the control of it to Hell (He earns brownie points, though, for being the only Dr. Hell's henchmen showed some spine in front of Gorgon). The later allied himself with Hell but spend the whole time insulting and scorning Hell and his henchmen, undermining his authority and scheming to overthrow Hell at the first chance. He was sucessful. Gorgon subverted the trope slightly since he was not planning replacing Hell with himself but with the Emperor of Darkness.
• Start of Darkness: Hell's mind was already unstable and unsound cause his upbringing. However, when he found out the woman he loved was in love with another man Juzo Kabuto, future builder of Mazinger-Z and Kouji's grandfather, he... flipped out and attempted to murder his perceived rival. It Got Worse from there. Shortly after he tried helping someone... and he got the crap beaten out of him for it. Later he was crawling back towards his home, bruised and blood-stained, muttering "Mediocre imbeciles! You don't deserve being alive! One day I'll purge the world off all of you! And then everybody will have kneel before me". When you heard his words and saw his utterly mad stare you realized he had snapped out completely and Dr. Hell had been born.
• Stay in the Kitchen (A good part of the Slap Slap Kiss comes from Koji saying this and Sayaka flipping the middle finger at him. Or better said, giving him an Armor-Piercing Slap.)
• Storming the Castle: Kouji, Sayaka and Boss stormed the Island of Hell, supported by the Japanese army, in the Final Battle.
• Stupid Jetpack Hitler: Dr. Hell started out as a weapons researcher for the Nazis.
• Sufficiently Advanced Alien: The enemies of a spin-off were aliens so powerful and so technologically advanced they were mistaken by gods in the past.
• Super Prototype: averted. Mazinger Z was lacking a lot of its special features at first and regularly had to be upgraded and re-outfitted with new equipment. As it turns out, the real Super Prototype is MazinKaiser...
  • Averted throughout the OVA, though. Shin Great Mazinger and Mazinkaiser are explicitly stated to be the finished models, their predecessors are the prototypes.
• Super Robot (May not have started, but certainly defined and named the genre)
• Super Robot Wars: All of them. The only ones that may technically not count are the ones that do or will use the reimaginings Mazinkaiser or Shin Mazinger.
  • In a number of Super Robot Wars games you can convince Minerva X to join your team. At least 2, 2G, Compact 1, and Advance, although in 2 she only joins temporarily and in Advance she 'dies' and you have to assign an actual pilot to the robot.
• Supervillain Lair: Dr. Hell had TWO: the island of Bardos, where he found the Mykene Humongous Mecha, and the -properly named- island of Hell, an islet near from Japan where he moved to at the second half of the series. His first base looked like a deserted island, covered with ancient, half-crumbled ruins, but his second fortress seemed less ordinary, featuring a mountain with four gigantic faces carved on the slopes. Nonetheless, both of them included:
  • an Elaborate Underground Base
  • a throne room for Hell
  • a war room to argue strategies
  • quarters for his Co-Dragons
  • barracks for his Mooks
  • several hangars for his Cool Ships, Cool Airships and Humongous Mecha
  • Insecurity System for Humongous Mecha was absolutely useless against Mazinger-Z
  • transmision equipment to broadcast to every TV set in the world
  • Hell's Mad Scientist Laboratory where he fabricated his weapons, mechas and cyborgs
  • several training camps for his Robeasts and Mooks
  • And in the original manga, his second fortress could transform into a humongous Humongous Mecha. And in the Gosaku Ota episodes, he could launch it off to the space and blow it up (in case his enemies invaded his island and he could not win).
• Tagalong Kid: Shirou.
• Take Over the World: According his Backstory revealed in one of the manga versions, Dr. Hell was abused and belittled by everyone when he was a child until his mind snapped and he decided he wanted to make all pay: he would purge the world off idiots and force everybody to bow down to him. During the rise of Hitler, he realized if he took over the world he COULD do just that. Over ten years after the World War II he finally found the means as he researched several ancient ruins.
• Tap on the Head: Boss used the "low blow to the solar plexus" variant with Kouji to try to avoid he fought against the Mykene Warrior Monsters in the last episode. Maybe it was used in a more realistic way than usual, though, since when Kouji regained consciousness shortly after, he seemed being in pain.
• A Taste of Power: In the first dozen of episodes, the Mechanical Beasts barely can even scratch Mazinger-Z, let alone threatening it. They were too weak, their weapons not powerful enough, and the battle was over as soon as The Hero Kouji managed connecting several consecutive attacks. The only reason for Kouji struggled during that time was he was still trying to learn how piloting his HumongousMecha. When Spartan K5 -a Gladiator-alike Beast single-handily beat the crap out of Mazinger as easily shrugging all its weapons off- showed up in episode 14, it was a wake-up call of playtime was over and Big Bad Dr. Hell was at last stepping up his challenge.
• The Team Normal: Boss and his gang. They had no special abilites and they were not the offspring of some scientist, and as the heroes had cool Humongous Mechas Made of Indestructium and loaded with dozens of awesome weapons (Rocket Punch, Chest Blaster, Eye Beam, Torpedo Tits, BFS, Armed Legs...) got periodical upgrades, they controlled a Humongous Mecha made with garbage, had no weapons, was quite fragile and was easily riped apart in every fight.
• Technician Versus Performer: Koji and Tetsuya have distinct ways to pilot their respective Humongous Mecha. Kouji is the Technician, who uses his weapons in a normal way -such as Mazinger's Photon-powered Eye Beam as a long range weapon-, combining them with pure brute force and Combat Pragmatism. Tetsuya is the performer who combines his own Combat Pragmatism by using Great's wide arsenal of weapons in an unorthodox way -such as shooting Thunder Break with both weapons or using it to turning his swords into Lightning rods, his surprisingly weird way of handling swords, or covering Great with Breast Burn heat energy (a movement which later would be adapted in Super Robot Wars Alpha and turned into Mazinkaisers Kaiser Nova).
• Telescoping Robot: Mazinger-Z has two extendable, razor-sharp cutters (properly named Iron Cutter) embedded into its forearms, several drilling missiles stuck into its upper arms, and its belly has a hatch to launch MORE missiles from. And then you have his Mid-Season Upgrade Jet Pack, Scrander Jet, which can shoot shurikens. New Mazinger (an one-shot story set on an alternative universe) went deeper in this trope, and in one scene, many hatches opened up all over its body, revealing dozens of missiles underneath.
• That's No Moon: A nearly literal example. Salude, Baron Ashura's submarine fortress was simultaneously a Cool Ship and an Island Base camouflaged itself like a real island (it had two parts: the lower part was a submarine Home Base and the upper part was an artificial island. Both parts were interconected via a tube. When Salude surfaced, only the upper part was visible). The first time Kouji saw it, he exclaimed: "That is not a island!"
• Thematic Rogues Gallery: Dr. Hell's Mechanical Beasts.
• Third Person Person: Dr. Hell occasionally refers to himself in third person when he is ranting, angry or uttering BadassBoasts. Go Nagai's Great Mazinger manga offers a good example:

Dr.Hell: "Destroy me? How arrogant. A tiny island country intends to destroy Dr. Hell, the future ruler of the world? Alright! I swear I shall crush Japan in merely ten days! And the whole world shall witness the true power of Dr. Hell!"

• This Is a Drill: Several robotical foes (such like Danchel and Stronger T4) were endowed with weaponized drills. As well, one of the weapons of Mazinger Z are drilling missiles located in its upper arms.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Whenever Kouji said this sentence you knew he was REAL angry, and someone was going to be summarily trashed in the near future. A good example was in the manga, after he learnt Dr. Hell had created a weapon was able to nullify gravity... and had used one whole city like subject test. Another two memorable instances happened in the Mazinkaiser movie (Mazinkaiser vs Great General of Darkness: at the beginning, after Lori and Loru's Heroic Sacrifice, and at the end, right before he absolutely destroys the Mykene empire army:

Kouji: Because you... Many people has died... THAT IS UNFORGIVABLE!

• • This sentence was also used fairly often by Baron Ashura (to Kouji and his friends after being defeated) and Dr. Hell (to Ashura after his servant botched still another operation).
• Those Wacky Nazis: Count Brocken and his Mooks.
• Thou Shall Not Kill: Played with. Kouji gets forced to kill an Iron Mask in one of the first chapters of the original manga and he freaks out about it. Later he is wondering, worried, if he is a murderer now. A secondary character reminds him he just was defending himself.
• Toei Animation: It made the 1972 anime and its sequels.
• Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Subverted. For start with, the Headquarters of the good guys are not in Tokyo but in the vicinity of Mount Fuji. Therefore, the enemy feels not compelled to exclusively target and attack Tokyo. A lot of Japanese cities are destroyed, ships are sunk in ocean, and often Mazinger-Z needed fighting in open sea (and in one chapter of one of the manga alternate continuities, it got deployed in another country). And in the Mazinger Z versus Great General of Darkness movie, the Mykene army struck New York, Londres and Moscow before striking Tokyo.
• Too Dumb to Live: Several characters of the series (including the main characters) get at least one occasion where they seem determined to off themselves. The civilians thought it was a good idea remaining near from the place where a Humongous Mecha and a Robeast were fighting, or blamed the heroes for the destruction and deaths Hell and his lackeys were responsible of, or pressed the Government to yield EVERY TIME Dr. Hell was blackmailing it are good examples. A good, specific example is Yuri, Bratty Half-Pint Sayaka's cousin: Let's go over the facts, Yuri. You are a disabled, little Ill Girl can't run or move quickly because you need a wheelchair. You know there is a giant robot in the city, stomping on buildings and people. Kouji has gone out to stop it after telling you very clearly you must stay in home because you are safer. Still do you insist on leaving the home and go to where the giant robots are fighting because you have a crush on Kouji and you want to see him? Okay, you can leave. After all, what can possibly go wrong?
• Torpedo Tits: Aphrodite A's "Oppai Missiles".
• Transforming Mecha: In Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen, Mazinger Z is able to transform into a giant fist.
• Tricked-Out Shoes: In episode 18, Mazinger-Z's feet got modified to include rockets allowed the Humongous Mecha move underwater.
• Trope Codifier / Genre Popularizer: When people talk about any Super Robot, this is what they inevitably measure it against.
  • Trope Maker: Tetsujin #28 may have been the Ur Example, but there were very few imitators after Mazinger rolls around. All the Super Robot standbys are from this show: a Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero, the ROCKETTO PAUNCH, Calling Your Attacks in Engrish, Eye Beams, a Chest Blaster, and many more.
• Tsundere: Sayaka, one of the first anime lead girls to have these qualities. Her type varies: she's a Type A in the original TV series, but switches to Type B in the manga and in Mazinkaiser.
  • She seems to have gone back to Type A in the Shin Mazinger Zero manga, but when she sees Minerva X and Kouji together...
• Two-Faced: Baron Ashura.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: In episode 89 we meet an impersonator of Kouji and Shiro's mother. In episode 92 we meet Kouji and Shiro's supposedly late father. His wife was definitely beautiful. He... not so much. Although maybe he was more handsome when he was younger and he was not a cyborg.
• Unbuilt Trope: Mazinger Z, while not quite the Ur Example, is definitely the Trope Codifier for the Super Robot genre. However, to a modern reader, it seems to constantly slip between an over-the-top parody, and a brutal deconstruction. The Big Bad is smart enough to send the "Mechanical Beasts" in groups to attack Mazinger; the mecha, though nearly indestructible, doesn't provide much safety for the pilot inside; and the main character nearly destroys the town while he's trying to figure out how to pilot the mecha. And that's before the villains take over a Japanese village in a very Nazi-like manner, including a systematic slaughter of the civilians that they considered "useless" and usage of the women of the village as human shields for their latest Mechanical Beast.
• Unexplained Recovery: At the second-to-last episode, the Cool Airship where Dr. Hell was escaping got blown up. Whatever got left from him after that explosion surely sank in the ocean. Nonetheless he showed up again in the last season of Great Mazinger, his body grafted into a Humongous Mecha. One eyepatch covering his left eye was the only mark of the ordeal he had endured. Little explanation was given other than an statement of Big Bad and Physical God Emperor of Darkness had relived him and turned into one of his Warrior Monsters (and high commander of his army). It can may be worth mentioning many Mazinger-Z characters returned in the last episodes from the sequel, so maybe Executive Meddling was involved.
• Ungrateful Bastard: People constantly blames Mazinger and the Photon Intitute for the destruction the battles between the Mechanical Beasts and Mazinger cause, apparently forgetting if Mazinger Z didn't exist, all of them would be dead.
• Unobtainium: Japanium. It is a rare mineral can only be found on a lode on Mount Fuji and was discovered by Proffesor Kabuto. Mazinger Z, Aphrodite A and Great Mazinger are built with it and the Kikaiju after Dr. Hell stole a sample
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Kouji and Sayaka were the couple defined Belligerent Sexual Tension. In spite of being attracted to each other, fierce competitiveness and pride issues on both sides prevent them from reaching an understanding and being together. It was not so bad in the original manga, though. And in another manga version, they kissed when they thought Kouji was going to die. He survived, but Kouji avoided Sayaka for a while because he was still too afraid and unsecure.
• Unwilling Roboticisation: All Co-Dragons -but Gorgon- and Mooks are Cyborgs created by Dr. Hell. He never gave someone choice in the matter or asked them if they want being turned into half-mechanical beings (and since Baron Ashura and his Mooks were corpses he revived by using cybernetic implants they could not refuse either). And in the case of Count Brocken, in one of the manga versions he states bitterly he was grateful to Hell because he saved his life... but he never wished serving him.
• Use Your Head: Kouji -who is a full-blown Combat Pragmatist- has no qualms uisng that tactic when he is fighting with Mazinger-Z. It should be justified, since he is using his Humongous Mecha's head to ram the enemy instead of his own, but it is not, because Mazinger-Z's cockpit sits on the head of the giant robot.
• Villain Team-Up: In the Mazinger-Z versus Devilman feature, Dr. Hell and the demons collaborate to take down Kouji Kabuto and Devilman. It may be subverted, since Hell used a mind-control device to enslave the demons, and he was mainly interested on taking down Mazinger-Z (he only sent some demons and Mechanical Beasts against Devilman because the demons warned him he would interfere).
  • Dr. Hell also hires Gauron in Super Robot Wars Judgment, works with the Zeon in Super Robot Wars Alpha and works with the Galra Empire in Super Robot Wars W.
• Villainous Breakdown: It happened to Dr. Hell several times. The first of them happened in the THIRD episode, when he realized Juzo Kabuto still could surpass him and thwart his lifelong plans even after death. He destroyed all Mykene Humongous Mecha he had found, declaring them being uselesss, and he very nearly gave up right then. Another memorable one happened in episode 68, when finally he saw himself unable to triumph over Kouji Kabuto. He destroyed all of his newest Beasts, and swallowing his pride, asked help to Archduke Gorgon.
• Villains Out Shopping: Several times, when the heroes infiltrated into one of the submarine fortress of Baron Ashura, he/she was taking a relaxing shower (and he/she did not appreciate being interrupted. Nobody -including the heroes, Ashura's minions and the audience- did, in fact). And often he/she was shown playing organ or drinking a glass of fine wine in his/her private chambers. Ashura could be quite laid-back when he/she wanted.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Kouji and Boss. Their first meeting consisted of Boss picking one fight with Kouji. They often bicker with each other, but they do get along rather well.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Subverted. Dr. Hell had one of these in Shin Mazinger Zero. Can you tell Fan Disservice?
• War Is Hell: From the opening narration from New Mazinger (an one-volume-long alternate manga version published in 1988): "A. D. 220X... Hostilities between north and south grow in fury as savage combat with new and ever more destructive weapons lays waste the once pastoral Earth. The remnants of mankind burrow deep beneath the surface. Their citadels, screened against the deadly bath of radiation, poke through the polluted soil like foul, mutant flowers. Their warriors, encased in giant combat armor against the air that once gave man life, live only to fight, and with luck, to fight again. Today, as every day, the flames of war rage in every corner of the globe. War without quarter. War without end. War for a race that has forgotten all other ways of life."
• Wham! Episode: The final episode was an endless succession of shocking moments altered the status quo irremissibly: it was revealed that Gorgon was actually working for someone was infinitely more powerful and most dangerous than Dr. Hell, Mazinger-Z was utterly and easily defeated by a new enemy, a new and more powerful Mazinger showed up, named Great Mazinger and it was revealed Kouji's father was alive. The Wham factor was even bigger in the movie version of that episode, when the Mykene army razed to ruins New York, London, Paris and Moscow in one single stroke before leading towards Tokyo and destroying it as well, and at the end of the movie, the prophet removed his mask and revealed his real identity: Kenzo Kabuto, Kouji's father.
• Wham! Line:

Kenzo: "He’s crying. My son is… My son…! Kouji Kabuto…!"

• What Does This Button Do?: This series mixed this trope with with Falling Into the Cockpit, and brutally deconstructed both of them (funny and ironic, keeping in mind Mazinger Z was the first mecha show where the pilot fell into the cockpit). When Kouji sat on the Hover Pilder (the flying device controls the Super Robot) for first time, he knew absolutely nothing about piloting. His little brother suggested him maybe it was a real bad idea, and he angrily replied he only needed figuring out what each button did. So what he began pressing random buttons to ascertain that... and he nearly got himself and his brother killed. Mazinger-Z went on a rampage, destroying everything on its path, and it only stopped when Sayaka showed up and carefully explained Kouji what he had to do (after getting baffled at the thought of someone doing something SO stupid). And it was way worse in the original manga version, since Kouji activated Mazinger-Z in the middle of a big city. To be fair, though, the person had built Mazinger-Z was dead, so it was not like if Kouji could consult someone about it at the time.
• What Is Evil??: In the manga version penned by Gosaku Ota, Baron Ashura kidnaps Kouji and suggests him joining him/her. When Kouji states he has no interest in serving a criminal, Ashura gets indignant, and angrily utters "good" and "evil" are nothing but concepts made up by humans, and the only true rules exhist in the world are the law of the jungle and the survival of the fittest.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: The Iron Masks and the Iron Crosses are reanimated corpses turned into cyborgs, mindless and faithfully serve Dr. Hell and his henchmen. Kouji wonders in the manga if it is right kill them.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: See above.
• Whip It Good: Several Mechanical Beasts used weaponized whips like weapons. Some examples are Gorias W3 and one of the Kikaiju from the Mazinger vs Devilman feature.
• Wolverine Publicity: In the Super Robot Wars series, Kabuto Kouji is the worst offender/most notable example of this category (even more than Amuro Rei and the Getter Team). He appears in EVERY single Super Robot Wars games to date. Of course it makes sense due to the fact that Kouji is the FIRST mech pilot. Removing him would be like removing your ancestor out of the family tree.
  • And in most of Go Nagai series, Mazinger Z characters or mechas show up, even if it is only a brief cameo.
• The Woobie: This series had plenty Woobies:
  • Shiro. His parents died when he was barely a toddler. His grandfather Juuzo took them in, but he hired a maid to raise them because he was barely in home. Several years later, in one single day, Rumi -the maid; he treated her like a a kind of older sister- was murdered, his grandfather was murdered (and Juuzo died right in front of his grandsons), and his older brother Kouji nearly stomps him under the foot of an Humongous Mecha. We see during the series he is sad because he don't have parents to hang with, and Koji, Boss, and Sayaka are most likely busy fighting a Mechanical Beast. He had a crush on a cute kid called Lorelei, but she died. And in one of the last episodes, Dr. Hell created a robot looked right like Kouji and Shiro's mother. She managed to convince him she was his real mother and tried to manipulate him to blow up the Jet Scrander. Later he had to shoot her, in spite of he was not sure of she was not his real mother. Have I mentioned he was only ten-years-old when the series began? Later, in Great Mazinger Kouji and Sayaka travel to America and he stays in Japan. Several times he complains he finds himself alone, his older brother does not write letters, and he even wishes upon a star Kouji returns soon. Jun tried to act like his Cool Big Sis because she was real sorry for him. And later in the series, he found out his father was not dead. And he had let his sons believed during years he was dead. And then, shortly after Shiro forgave him and they made up, his father Kenzo died. For real, this time. Also, in UFO Robo Grendizer Kouji Kabuto shows up, but Shiro does not, so it is fair wondering who was taking care of him. I guess the most obvious answer is Tetsuya and Jun -since they were his adoptive siblings and they were not underage- or Prof. Yumi -since he had been a Parental Substitute for Kouji and Shiro in the original series. It definitely suckes to be him. Although, on the other hand, he does not constantly whine about it.
  • Dr. Hell. His parents were poor and his mother was abusing him constantly when he was a little kid, calling him ugly, telling she had never wanted to having him and her life would be easier without him, beating the crap out of him for anything... Meanwhile his father just watched and shrugged off. No child wanted to befriend him either, telling he was ugly and weird. He found a getaway in reading books and started getting exceptionally good grades in school, but the only thing it accomplished was his teachers accused him from cheating and punished him, and his schoolmates had an excuse to berate him and beat him. It Got Worse when he grew up. He fell in love with a woman but then he found out she was in love with one of the only persons had shown him respect (neither of them had wanted to make harm, but his sanity was already so frayed he genuinely believed they had pretended to be his friends to backstab him). When you look over the facts, he wants Take Over the World because he is a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds thinks making the whole humanity suffering is a proper therapy. So if he would have not got such a crappy childhood and teenhood, he would never have gone From Nobody to Nightmare.
  • Yuri, Sayaka's cousin, was an annnoying, cranky, demanding Bratty Half-Pint. She acted like that because her parents were too Married to the Job to take care properly of her and they never were in home. Also, she is a disabled Ill Girl needs to use a wheelchair, and she refuses to undergo therapy to walk again because she is afraid of everyone will leave her alone again.
  • Mitsuo, a child attended Shiro's school was a fat, shy kid wore glasses. Needless to say, bullies targeted him, and he hardly had friends. Shiro scared the bullies away once, but he told Mitsuo he could not help him and be his friend if he did not learn to stand up for himself. All that piled-up abuse was the reason of he pulled a Too Dumb to Live stunt.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Dr. Hell yearns for being this!
• Would Hit a Girl: Kouji would definitely do -and the girl usually hit back-. Baron Ashura also did, although it can or can not count when he hit himself/herself/itself. If it counts, then Dr. Hell also did.
• Wrecked Weapon: Whenever Mazinger-Z fists -its most popular and most iconic weapon- were destroyed or shattered in one fight you knew Kouji was going to be in trouble. Maybe the first time happened when Kouji was fighting Spartan K5 and the Mechanical Beast easily ran its trident through its fist before beating the crap out of Mazinger-Z. A very memorable also happened in the Mazinger-Z versus Great General of Darkness, when General Juuma caught his flying fist before eating it.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Baron Ashura and Count Brocken hated each other. Dr. Hell thought it would be a good thing, since they would surely try to destroy Mazinger-Z harder to upstage each other. Or course, what happened was many operations and schemes went by the wayside because they constantly fought and got in the each other's way, and they were were unable to work together, ruining many joined missions, too. Hell's mistake was born of him believing he and his troops were a Five-Man Band instead of a Five-Bad Band.
• In another episode, Count Brocken have one in which he used hostages, and cheap tricks to defeat Koji, expecting Koji to be a straight, heroic and honorable hero like pretty much most tv shows protagonist. This could have(and at times actualy) work well if not for the fact that this is Koji were talking about. In fact, Brocken does mention it by complained about Koji's fans will cry because of that. Koji's reaction? Take it like a man.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: In one episode Baron Ashura captured Kouji and Mazihger-Z and give him the "join-us-or-die" choice. After the Kouji's predictable answer, Ashura sentenced him to death. Count Brocken was watching the scene through a monitor and he stated Ashura beat around the bush too much, and he would just shoot Kouji. The situation was a blend of:
  • Complexity Addiction: Later trying shooting him, Ashura started a bunch of power saws and drills to cut Mazinger-Z to pieces. To be fair, Kouji was inside Mazinger-Z, so one gun would nothing, and they could not get him out.
  • Stating the Simple Solution: Brocken stated shooting him would be easier and quick.
• X Meets Y: Tetsujin 28-go meets Astro Boy meets Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
• Xanatos Gambit: Archduke Gorgon's master plan. He agreed helping Dr. Hell to destroy Mazinger-Z with his visibly more powerful Mechanical Beasts. However his true intentions were watching Hell closely and making both sides weakened each other battle after battle until one side won. Then, he would annihilate the weakened victor, and the Great General of Darkness -his real boss- would conquer the surface world without any real opposition. Consequently, he could not lose, not matter how the war between Dr. Hell and Kouji Kabuto ended. And, indeed, he was successful: he betrayed Dr. Hell in the worst possible moment, leaving him to die or personally murdering him -depending on the version-. Straight after he sent several Mykene Warrior Monsters after Mazinger-Z, and they destroyed the Humongous Mecha. In one single day and from one single stroke he had looked after all his enemies. However, his plan did not cause the expected outcome due to a Spanner in the Works.
• You Have Failed Me...: Amazingly averted with Dr. Hell, who admittedly can grow frustrated at the failings of his subordinates and punish them, but never kills anyone for trying their hardest and failing. Worst he did in the Mazinkaiser OVAs when Baron Ashura failed one too many times was throw him in a jail, and that was partly because Ashura had gone over his head. And even then, when he saw how determined Ashura was to make it up to him, Dr. Hell let him go anyways.
• You Killed My Grandfather: It happens in the first episode, when Dr. Hell gets Dr. Kabuto assassinated, and Kouji vows to avenge him. And it again happened to Kouji and his own father, Kenzo, in the sequel.
• You Shall Not Pass: It happened fairly often:
  • An example taken from the original manga. Kouji has been cornered by several Mechanical Beasts, but Sayaka shows up with Aphrodite-A to give him time to reach Mazinger-Z:
  • Episode 6: A Mechanical Beast is trashing one city to keep Mazinger-Z and Aphrodite-A busy as a second Beast and a squad of Iron Masks take over the Photon Atomic Research Institute. Kouji tells he will deal with the first Beast to let Sayaka go to protect the Institute.
  • Another example taken from episode 74: A Mechanical Beast was completely trashing Mazinger-Z around. Sayaka -as piloting Aphrodite-A- stepped between both and stood in the way of the Beast to protect Kouji, receiving all its attacks to prevent it from killing Kouji and destroying Mazinger-Z even though it meant Aphrodite-A was destroyed for good.
  • Episode 92: Kouji is hurt and can not fight, so Boss knocks him out, and he and Sayaka deploy their Humongous Mecha to try to hold back the Mykene Warrior Beasts marching towards the Institute. They fail badly.
  • Chapter 6 from Shin Mazinger Zero: Three assassins Robot Girls -Gamia Q1, Q2 and Q3- are attempting to get Kouji murdered, but Sayaka and Boss to step in the way to protect him:
• You Watch Too Much X: In the first chapter of the manga, Mazinger ends up going on a destructive rampage during Kouji's first attempt to pilot it. When some concerned citizens try to tell the police about it, their claims of a "giant monster" destroying the city are dismissed with "You watch too much TV."
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Dr. Hell is defeated before the final episode... and, needless to say, the final episode wasn't just a peaceful day.
• Zettai Ryouiki: Sayaka Yumi tended to wear short skirts whether she was wearing her school uniform or casual clothes. And later in the series she wore a very short white-red skirt and knee-length, white boots. In the manga versions more female characters wore attires or uniforms that showed their tights, such like the Gamia or Minerva-X in Shin Mazinger Zero.